Last month, in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a "ministerial exception" to employment discrimination laws, in what is likely to be a seminal case for religious-based employers. Until this point, the U.S. Supreme Court had not had the occasion to consider whether the concept of a religious organization's freedom to select its ministers is implicated by a law suit alleging discrimination in employment, although the federal Courts of Appeals have uniformly recognized that the ministerial exception does apply in this context. The U.S. Supreme Court has now confirmed that the ministerial exception exists to bar employmentdiscrimination law suits brought by ministers against their employers.

Factual Background of the Case

The Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School ("Hosanna-Tabor") in Redford, Michigan offered a religiouscentered education to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Cheryl Perich was originally employed as a "lay" teacher in 1999, but after she completed her required training to be a Lutheran minister, Hosanna Tabor later asked her to become a "called" teacher which she accepted and received a diploma of vocation designating her as commissioned minister. Perich taught secular and religious subjects and conducted prayer and chapel services at Hosanna-Tabor. When Hosanna-Tabor refused to allow her to return to her position following a disability leave in 2004, Perich accused Hosanna-Tabor of unlawful discrimination and threatened legal action. She was subsequently terminated.

Perich filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging that her employment had been terminated in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Perich and the EEOC then sued Hosanna-Tabor alleging retaliation under the ADA (Perich also sued under the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act) and sought reinstatement (or frontpay in lieu thereof), backpay, compensatory and punitive damages, attorney's fees and other injunctive relief. Hosanna-Tabor invoked the "ministerial exception" arguing that the suit was barred by the First Amendment. Although the District Court agreed with Hosanna-Tabor, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, finding that although the "ministerial exception" existed, Perich was not a "minister" under the exception.

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