BYU Free From Ex-Worker’s Bias Suit Tied to ‘Masculine’ Haircut

A former trainer at Brigham Young University who says she was fired for having a “too masculine” hairdo and for complaining about a sex-based double standard is barred from suing under an exception to federal law for church officials, the District of Utah ruled.

Ashtin Markowski’s case fell under the “ministerial exception” to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the court said.

The doctrine protects the right of religious organizations to decide who serves them as a “minister,” the court said. And Markowski’s duties for teaching full-time Mormon missionaries how to respond to online inquiries and to use ...