In an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief filed today with the United States Supreme Court, Agudath Israel of America, joined by Torah Umesorah, urged the Court to provide religious entities broad protection in employment decisions.
The amicus brief addresses the Supreme Court doctrine known as the “ministerial exception,” which exempts religious organizations from lawsuits brought against them by employees who were terminated from jobs as religious functionaries in such organizations.
The brief argues that the same standard should apply to both the religious organization that directly hired the employee, and “affiliated religious organizations.”
The case, North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention V. Will McRaney, will give the Supreme Court an opportunity to clarify the scope of the ministerial exception, and could have significant ramifications for religious institutions across the United States.
Agudath Israel thanks the attorneys at the Washington D.C. law firm of Paul Hastings who researched and drafted this important amicus curiae brief, in particular, Igor Timofeyev, Counsel of Record, and those who assisted him.
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One Response
There is no question that the exception should extend to commercial ventures and operations that has some logical nexus with the parent religious organization. The question is how far afield from the core religious mission should this exemption from regulation apply without carving out purely commercial ventures that are owned or controlled by a “religious group”. Its not that much an issue within yiddeshe mosdos but more so with some evangelical x’stian groups which have developed enormous business ventures with no “religious mission” other than as a fundraising source.