When the Ministerial Exception Possibly Applies—or Doesn’t—to Ministers
Ten years have passed since the US Supreme Court handed down its unanimous decision recognizing the ministerial exception. It prevents the civil courts from resolving employment disputes between churches and clergy. But in the time since that historic 2012 decision, lower courts have diverged in their interpretations of it.
Two new Legal Developments by attorney Richard Hammar are worth reviewing because the courts involved offered differing interpretations of the doctrine for lawsuits between ministers and their churches.
Decision No. 1: A federal court in Ohio refused to dismiss a minister’s lawsuit against the church that fired him because it believed the church’s grounds for termination stemmed only from secular-based reasons. Decision No. 2: A Pennsylvania court, citing the ministerial exception, denied hearing a priest’s lawsuit for defamation and false statements.
Church leaders, we encourage you to consider how these differing interpretations might apply to future employment situations involving your own ministers.
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