Ministerial exemption might not protect religious school from age discrimination

Religion holds a special place among state and federal constitutional rights, and nowhere do religious rights hold more strongly than in the right to hire and fire ministerial employees. Employment decisions regarding ministerial roles are beyond judicial review. But what is a ministerial role? When a religious school employee sued her school for age discrimination, the California Court of Appeal returned that very question to trial.

What is the ministerial exemption?

The First Amendment provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The ministerial exception precludes application of employment discrimination laws to certain claims arising out of the employment relationship between a religious institution and its ministers.

Under this rule, “courts are bound to stay out of employment disputes involving those holding certain important positions with churches and other religious institutions. . . . Members of a religious group put their faith in the hands of their ministers,” and thus, “requiring a church to accept or retain an unwanted minister, or punishing a church for failing to do so . . . depriv[es] the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs.”

School with a religious mission