On July 8, 2020, the United States Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision held that the “ministerial exemption” which prohibits courts from considering employment disputes of certain employees of religiously affiliated organizations, applied to two Catholic school lay teachers. Therefore, their claims of discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act were foreclosed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Facts of the Case: Our Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrissey-Berru involved separate claims by primary school teachers that were consolidated by the Court. Both were “lay teachers” at Catholic schools, meaning that they taught the general curriculum to their students. Like all teachers in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Morrisey-Berru and Beil were expected to serve as “catechists,” responsible for the faith formation of students (although neither held any formal ordination or religious designation by the Church). This requirement was reflected in their annual teaching agreements and the faculty handbooks. The annual teaching agreements and faculty handbooks also made clear that they had to serve as models of Catholic faith principles, incorporate Catholic principles into lay subjects, and recognize that the religious development of students was the first goal of the […]
