The Law at Work: How much freedom do religious employers have from employment laws?
Title VII, the federal employment discrimination law, does not prohibit a religious corporation from “employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work” connected to carrying out the corporation’s activities. Separately, a “ministerial exception” excuses church-employers from a broad range of employment laws that would interfere with a church’s exclusive, Constitution-based right to select and control employees who minister to the faithful. In his The Law at Work column in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Shareholder Dan Eaton recent examines recent rulings made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the California Court of Appeal addressing the boundaries of these distinct exclusions.
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