Author: churchlitigationupdate

SUING THE RIGHT PERSON

This is sometimes harder than might be expected.  Lawyers instinctively seek to sue the deep pockets because most wrongdoers are gone, dead or insolvent.  In church cases, especially those arising from some sort of church split, the right defendant might not be the entity.  It might not be the oversight board members (regardless of their title).  It might not be the pastor or other religious leader.  Sometimes state non-profit law can guide the choice and sometimes only the church or denominational governing documents can point to the right defendant.

In Suleman v Zia, Slip Op. (NJ App 2021), the Plaintiffs and Defendants agreed to a stipulated court order that required membership applications be submitted by a date certain and that a general election of board members be held by a date certain.  147 timely submitted membership applications were submitted but no action was taken and no election was scheduled.  The Plaintiffs sought an order of the Court enforcing the stipulated order.  The trial court denied the request for an order of enforcement.  The defendants named in the court proceeding were not members of nor consisted of the Membership Committee charged with the duty to review the applications.  The Membership Committee and its members were not named as parties so no Court order could be enforced as to them.  The defendants were members of an oversight board that had no control over the Membership Committee and apparently could not bind it to any agreement or order.

While it is possible the defendants in the reported case innocently thought they had authority to agree to a stipulated court order, it is equally possible the defendants knew they did not have authority to commit the Membership Committee to anything and for tactical reasons remained silent.  In either case, the Plaintiffs and their counsel should have obtained proof of the defendants’ authority to bind the Membership Committee to the stipulated order.  Defendants should not be selected based on emotions or conspiracy theories.  Church split litigation is usually an underfunded bad idea based on the heat of the moment, in any event, but it will be futile if the proper defendant is not before the court.

MINISTERIAL HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENTS

Many priests, pastors and ministers have felt they were trapped in a hostile workplace.  Many non-church employees that deal with the public have had the same experience.  For both the supervisory personnel to whom they answer are rarely the source.  Non-church employers may have a duty to intervene between the public and the employee if the conduct of the public is “sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment.”  Harris v Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 US 17, 21 (1993).  Whether the rule would apply to a minister abused by a church member remains to be decided.

In Middleton v United Church of Christ Board, Slip Op. (6th Cir. 2021) the Plaintiff was an employee of the denomination and an ordained minister.  The Plaintiff was responsible for planning youth events.  The Plaintiff alleged the work environment was rendered toxic by co-workers, supervisors and one or more church donors.  The trial court dismissed the case.  The United States Court of Appeal for the 6th Circuit affirmed.  The Plaintiff’s allegations of abuse that rendered the work environment hostile was an event in 2010, an event in 2013, an event in 2014 and retaliation because Plaintiff complained to the human relations office.  The Plaintiff was demoted in 2015 and placed under the supervision of a person of a different race.  The Plaintiff was demoted a second time later in 2015 and placed in a temporary position scheduled to end the following year.  Still later in 2015, Plaintiff’s two-month sabbatical was abruptly ended after only two weeks.  Plaintiff also claimed a promotion was denied and given to a person of a different race instead.  The Court of Appeals concluded the church could not be required to prove its employment decisions were not pre-textual.  The Court held such an inquiry would require intrusion into church ministerial employment decisions motivated by religious belief and practice.  Further, the Court of Appeals held the alleged hostile actions, however unprofessional they may have been if true, fell short of being sufficiently severe to plausibly plead a hostile work environment claim.  The denomination likewise had no duty to intervene if the alleged hostile actions did not reach the level of a hostile work environment.

The reported case set the rule for the states in the 6th Circuit that hostile work environment claims for ministers are not available.  In that ruling, the 6th Circuit joined every other circuit.  The additional holding that the allegations of the Plaintiff alone were not enough to make out a hostile work environment claim are also instructive.  Non-clergy employees may still, in some cases, be able to make a hostile work environment claim.  However, the alleged abuse must rise to the level of altering the conditions of the claimant’s employment and create an abusive working environment.  This will likely require allegations of pervasive, prolonged and seriously abusive behavior to be followed by proof of same.

LAY MEMBER IMMUNITY – SORT OF

The Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine and the Ministerial Exception limit secular court intrusion into church employment decisions regarding ministers and other employees.  While it is generally the limitations on employment law protection of “other employees” about which the courts struggle, it is possible for these doctrines to limit or preclude other claims.  For example, can a pastor fired by a church or denomination sue, rather than the church or denomination, a member of their church regarding their role in the loss of employment?

In Father Jim Tracy v O’Bell, et al, Slip Op. (Pa. Supp. 2021) an intermediate appellate court affirmed summary judgment in favor of the lay members sued by the former pastor.  The former pastor alleged that alleged tortious interference with his employment contract was the goal of the defamation by the lay member defendants.  The Plaintiff alleged the defendants defamed him with the intent of causing the church to terminate his employment.  Plaintiff claimed he found a large amount of cash in a file cabinet and the lay members claimed the Plaintiff was not financially responsible with church funds.  The church terminated the Plaintiff.  But, the Plaintiff did not sue the church, but rather sued the lay members the Plaintiff claimed defamed him in their alleged plot to secure his termination.  The trial court was affirmed because the alleged defamatory claims of the lay members, and the allegedly connected firing, were intertwined with the ecclesiastical decision to terminate a clergyman.  The termination decision was made by the church and court inquiry into that decision to determine if it was, indeed, based on the defamation would entangle the court in ecclesiastical governance.

While in the reported case the Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine, in order to keep the court out of ecclesiastical church governance, had the effect of immunizing lay members the assumption should not be made that it will do so frequently or reliably.  Lay members, even in congregational rather than hierarchical churches, may not be able to defame each other with impunity even if as to the employment of a pastor they might.  Likewise, churches and denominations that do not manage such internal disputes, even if litigation would be ineffectual, may find that there are other consequences and ripple effects, such as to offering plates.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SPIRITUAL LEADERS

The ongoing argument that church school teachers, staff, and administrators are not “ministers” and that employment decisions by churches regarding them are not shielded by the Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine or its subsidiary the Ministerial Exception is not merely a matter of opinion.  It is, or should be, a matter of factual inquiry based on the record the parties have made.  The church and school governing documents, the employment contracts, if any, and the employment handbooks generally will decide the issue because those documents generally existed prior to the dispute, were ratified by the employee upon employment, or ratified because the employee remained employed after amended documents were adopted.

In Zaleuke v Archdiocese of St. Louis, Memorandum and Order (ED Mo. ED, 2021) the federal trial court granted summary judgment to the church.  The Plaintiff resigned from the position of elementary church school principal when Plaintiff learned her contract would not be renewed for a third year.  The Plaintiff sued alleging sex discrimination.  The trial court’s opinion recited the church governing documents, employment contract, and other documents in detail.  For example, the employment application required Plaintiff to answer certain questions described as:  “(1) “describe your belief in God and your relationship with Jesus Christ”; (2) “describe your relationship to and involvement in the Catholic Church in general and your parish in particular”; (3) “define the unique mission of Catholic schools”; (4) “describe … the elements of a school’s Catholic identity”; (5) “describe your background in religious education” and “[h]ow this contribute[s] to your work as a Principal/administrator”; and (6) “describe the role for [a r]eligious leader of the school community.””  The employment contract expressly stated the position was intended to further the mission of the church.  A “mission statement” to which the employee was required to adhere was much like a secular morals clause.  The position also required meetings with religious personnel of the church and ongoing religious education.  The trial court held that the record demonstrated the Plaintiff’s position was required to perform “important religious functions,” “religious instruction,” church mission participation, and academic requirements directly related to “elucidating or teaching the tenets of the faith.”

Churches that run schools should grab this court opinion and make sure their own documents serve as well in documenting the true nature of the position.  The goal is not merely the elimination of secular court employment case intrusion but obtaining the clear commitment of church school employees at every level.