Catholic School Worker Was a ‘Minister,’ Lacks Gay Bias Suit (1)

An Indianapolis Catholic high school doesn’t have to face a gay guidance counselor’s sex bias claims over her firing after she disclosed her same-sex marriage, the Seventh Circuit ruled Thursday.

The decision was the circuit’s latest examination of an exception to employer liability under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act when an employee claiming bias served as a “minister.” The US Supreme Court has also addressed that question multiple times, including in 2012 in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC, when it first recognized a “ministerial exception” deriving from the First Amendment’s free exercise clause. ...