Ministers can't sue churches for bias

The US Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday for the first time in an important church-state separation issue that ministers cannot sue their churches claiming they had been fired in violation of employment discrimination laws. The justices unanimously overturned a US appeals court ruling that the job of a former teacher and minister at a church school was secular rather than religious and she could pursue her claim that she was improperly fired in violation of federal law.
The case pitted the competing interests of the US government enforcing laws such as those prohibiting discrimination and retaliation and of the constitutional protections of religious freedom. The justices for the first time adopted a rule used for decades by some US appeals courts that the government generally cannot delve into church affairs and religious beliefs in employment cases involving ministers or other clergy members.
The high court accepted what is known as a "ministerial exception" to the employment discrimination laws. It generally bars the federal government from examining employment decisions by religious groups for employees with religious duties, such as ministers. The case involved the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Redford, Michigan, and former teacher Cheryl Perich, who was also a minister. She taught secular and religious classes.
She sought to return to work after taking time off for an illness diagnosed as narcolepsy, a sleep disorder. The school refused and fired her after she threatened to sue to get her job back. Perich then went to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency which sued the church for unlawful discrimination and retaliation under the federal disabilities act. The school argued the government cannot get involved in the hiring or firing someone who holds office in the church or does important religious functions such as teaching the faith. Perich argued that the appeals court correctly decided that she performed important secular functions in addition to her religious duties and that the lawsuit can proceed.