Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (Minister) recently issued a Ministerial Statement on Net Benefit Reviews of Canadian Critical Minerals Companies. Transactions involving important Canadian mining...more
On May 8, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a monumental opinion in Billard v. Charlotte Catholic High School. Senior Judge Harris, joined by Judge Niemeyer, wrote the majority opinion....more
Failure to Extend Extracurricular Opportunities to Parochial School Students Violates Free Exercise In Religious Rights Foundation of Pa. v. State College Area Sch. Dist., No. 23-CV-01144, 2023 WL 8359957 (M.D. Pa. Dec. 1,...more
Supreme Court Decides Freedom of Speech Trumps Public Accommodations Law In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, No. 21-476 (June 30, 2023), the U.S. Supreme Court reversed 6-3 the lower courts' denial of the injunction the plaintiff...more
In Ratliff v. Wycliffe Assoc., Inc., No. 6:22-cv-1185-PGB-RMN, 2023 WL 3688082 (M.D. Fla. May 26, 2023), the plaintiff, a software developer, sued the defendant, a Bible translation ministry, for sex discrimination under...more
A plaintiff maintains standing to pursue a non-individual PAGA claim in state court when his individual PAGA claim is sent to arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement...more
Over the past decade, federal courts have repeatedly reviewed religious-affiliated employers' ability to avoid federal discrimination claims. Courts recognize a "ministerial exception" that prevents discrimination claims by...more
Donors State Claims for Misuse of Their Funds, But Not as a Class Action - In Carrier v. Ravi Zacharias Int'l Ministries, Inc. No. 1:21-CV-3161-TWT, 2022 WL 1540206 (N.D. Ga. May 13, 2022) and Carrier v. Ravi Zacharias...more
Vaccination Mandate Conforms with First Amendment In Kane v. De Blasio, No. 21 Civ. 7863, 21 Civ. 8773, 2022 WL 3701183 (S.D. N.Y. Aug. 26, 2022), the district court ruled that New York City Department of Education employees...more
Late summer odds and ends. Catholic school guidance counselor supervisor is a "minister," court says. And therefore she can't sue the Archdiocese of Indianapolis for refusing to renew her contract after she entered into...more
The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 28, 2022, denied a petition for writ of certiorari in an important ministerial exception case, Gordon College v. DeWeese-Boyd. The religious college had appealed a 2021 decision from the...more
The State Water Resources Control Board’s registrations of small water diversions are ministerial projects and hence exempt from CEQA. As such, allegedly erroneous registrations cannot be challenged under CEQA. Mission Peak...more
Recently, the 9th Circuit applied, in an unpublished opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court’s broad definition of minister for purposes of the “ministerial exception.” Under the ministerial exception, religious institutions have a...more
Morals Clause Ruled Not Within Title VII Religious Exemptions Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it unlawful "to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any...more
Whether your school is aiming to be more diverse and inclusive or wanting to be in the best possible position to enforce religious tenets, it is important to consult with experienced independent or private school legal...more
In Starkey v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, No. 1:19-cv-03153 (S.D. Ind. August 11, 2021), a federal court rejected a Catholic school guidance counselor’s employment discrimination suit, ruling her claims were...more
On July 9, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit sitting en banc overturned a split panel decision in the case, Sandor Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish et al., and issued a 6-3 opinion holding that...more
Ministerial Exception Doctrine Bars Minister-on-Minister Hostile Work Environment Claim In Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, Calumet City, No. 19-2142, 2021 WL 2880232 (7th Cir. July 9, 2021), the U.S. Court of...more
Here's what's been going on this week. Some noteworthy labor and employment developments from the past week, in no particular order: Court rules against Christian teacher who wouldn't use kids' names, preferred...more
Sitting en banc, the Seventh Circuit in Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, No. 19-2142 (July 9, 2021), held that the so-called “ministerial exception” bars hostile work environment claims alleging...more
On July 9, 2021, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, sitting en banc, issued a 7-3 decision in the closely watched case Sandor Demkovich v. St Andrew the Apostle Parish, Calumet City and the Archdiocese of Chicago....more
Attendance Limitations on Houses of Worship Enjoined In Agudath Israel of America v. Cuomo, 983 F. 3d 620 (2d Cir. 2020), the court of appeals reversed two district courts and ruled that an executive order that limited...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In the most recent decision to consider the intersection between religion and employment law, Massachusetts’s highest court in DeWeese-Boyd v. Gordon Coll., No. SJC-12988., 2021 WL 841932 (Mass. Mar. 05,...more
On March 5, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled in DeWeese-Boyd v. Gordon College, et. al. that an associate professor at a private, Christian liberal arts college did not constitute a ministerial...more
Even after the Supreme Court’s recent decision that the so-called “ministerial exception” barred employment discrimination claims brought by a pair of Catholic school teachers, lower courts continue to wrestle with the scope...more