Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 5, 2011 Decided January 11, 2012
Full case name	Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School, Petitioner v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, et al.
Docket nos.	10-553
Citations	565 U.S. ___ (more) 132 S. Ct. 694; 181 L. Ed. 2d 650; 2012 U.S. LEXIS 578; 80 U.S.L.W. 4056; 114 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 129; 95 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) P44,385; 25 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1057; 23 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 46
Prior history	Judgement for defendant, 582 F.Supp.2d 881 (E.D. Mich. 2008), reversed and remanded, 597 F.3d 769 (6th Cir. 2010); certiorari granted, 563 U. S. ___ (2011).
Holding
The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment bar suits brought on behalf of ministers against their churches, claiming termination in violation of employment discrimination laws.
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority	Roberts, joined by unanimous
Concurrence	Thomas
Concurrence	Alito, joined by Kagan
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 565 U.S. ___ (2012), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously ruled that federal discrimination laws do not apply to religious organizations' selection of religious leaders.

In 1999, Cheryl Perich started teaching at Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Redford, Michigan. While Perich led students in prayer and taught a religion class several days a week, her job primarily consisted of teaching grade school art, science, social studies and music. In 2004, Perich left on disability and was diagnosed with narcolepsy. In 2005, after being cleared by her doctors to go back to work, the school told her that they already hired someone else. Perich then threatened to file suit, and so the school promptly fired her for "insubordination and disruptive behavior". Perich sued for unlawful dismissal under the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

All nine Supreme Court justices agreed with the decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts that "the Establishment Clause prevents the Government from appointing ministers, and the Free Exercise Clause prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own." Moreover, because the respondent in this case was a minister within the meaning of the ministerial exception, the First Amendment requires dismissal of her employment discrimination suit against her religious employer. The decision explicitly left open the question whether religious organizations could be sued for other reasons with the sentence "We express no view on whether the exception bars other types of suits, including actions by employees alleging breach of contract or tortious conduct."

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurrence, in which he eschewed the use of any specific test for determining who qualifies as a minister, writing that he would like to "defer to a religious organization’s good-faith understanding of who qualifies as a minister".