This past week, the US Supreme Court addressed a nagging question, how far does the ministerial exception to Title VII go? The problem occurs in religious schools. A teacher may teach a wide range of subjects, with only 10% of her time devoted to teaching religious subjects. Is that teacher subject to the minister exception
Back in the 1850’s, religion became a large part of the national debate in all elections, state, local and national. The Know Nothings opposed immigrants in general and Roman Catholics in particular. They were called Know Nothings, because they were instructed to reply “I know nothing” when asked about their party. The party was officially
The result is not so surprising but how the Supreme Court got there is a little surprising. In the case of EEOC v. Abercrombie, No. 14-86 (6/1/2015) the Court rejected the lower court decision and found the employer should have accommodated the applicant. The applicant, Samanatha Elauf, applied for a position. She was a
The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a decision regarding the ministerial exception to Title VII. Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964 prohibits discrimination. But, for decades, courts have excepted religious institutions from Title VII. Based on the First Amendment, all circuit courts have recognized that a religious institution may discriminate based on
A San Antonio man was awarded $263,000 in a religious discrimination lawsuit. Steven Hecht worked three years at Million Air San Antonio, a small plane servicing firm. Million Air would mix religion and business routinely. The owner, Mark Fessler, told Mr. Hecht to fire two employees because the Lord told Mr. Fessler they should be