In Administrators ,Announcements ,Critical Issues ,Teachers by Coachburk / Tags: Called Teachers, Divine Call, Law, Teachers /
ATTENTION LUTHERAN TEACHERS: YOU MAY LOSE YOUR SELF-EMPLOYED TAX BREAK!Being a new principal is an adventure and stressful as it is. One thing that came across my desk is what seems to be an alarming and heartbreaking attack on Lutheran Teachers.
Sixth Circuit has ruled that a grade school teacher at a religious school who taught primarily secular topics falls outside of the “ministerial exception” to the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”)
The “ministerial exception” allows religious entities to give “preference in employment to individuals of a particular religion” and to “require that all applicants and employees conform to the religious tenets of such organization.” 42 U.S.C. Section 12113(d). The First Amendment free exercise clause implies a safe harbor for religious entities to make employment decisions about staff free from judicial intrusion. For the ministerial exception to bar an employment discrimination claim, (1) the employer must be a religious institution; and (2) the employee must be a ministerial employee. 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 4891, *20 (citing Hollins v. Methodist Healthcare Inc., 474 F.3d 223, 225 (6th Cir. 2007)
The Circuit Court found that the school failed to demonstrate that the plaintiff was a ministerial employee. The Circuit Court reviewed plaintiff’s primary duties and found that “the district court erred in its legal conclusion classifying the plaintiff as a ministerial employee. The plaintiff spent approximately six hours and fifteen minutes of her seven hour day teaching secular subjects, using secular textbooks, without incorporating religion into the secular material.” Id. at *26.
The Court also determined that the District Court erred in placing too much reliance on the school’s bestowal of a ministerial title on the plaintiff. “[T]he title of commissioned minister does not transform the primary duties of these called teachers from secular in nature to religious in nature.” Id. at *29 (emphasis in original).
So what does this mean? (Good Lutheran Response)
It means we are in trouble! We need to be looking at our school and what and how we teach. I have some questions like, why wasn’t this teacher action not reviewed earlier? How can we have a CALLED TEACHER, not teaching the Law and Gospel in every class? I taught from Secular books, but as Rob Jacklin will say, your textbooks is not your curriculum!
Where will this go?
If the worst happens, all Lutheran School Teachers will lose their ministerial employee benefits. For the purpose of Taxes, we would not have a housing allowance! Schools would be open to more attack from disgruntled employees. Non-Lutheran / non-Christians can now sue for not hiring them based on their religion . The Divine Call would lose all of its meaning!
This is just a FYI… if someone is up-to-date on this court case or can give more information, please add comments
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This might be worth passing on to the folks at our Lutheran teacher training schools. For me that would be Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN. I will pass this information onto some people I know and see if this is being looked at for from their point of view.
This is worth following, but the rest of the story in this case is important, like the fact that this case was about a teacher who was released for insubordination after threatening to sue the school. Check out the description in this first few paragraphs of the LawUpdates site, for example.
http://www.lawupdates.com/commentary/ieeoc_v._hosanna-tabor_i_the_adas_ministerial_exception_does_not_apply_to_p/
Unfortunately, because of the way that the ruling is worded, it does seem to provide precedent for a broader interpretation of the law.
I found this excerpt from the article to be very intriguing: “In a concurring opinion, Judge Helene White stated: “Tipping the scale against the ministerial exception in this case is that, as the majority points out, there is evidence here that the school itself did not envision its teachers as religious leaders, or as occupying ‘ministerial’ roles. Hosanna-Tabor’s teachers are not required to be called or even Lutheran to teach or to lead daily religious activities. The fact that the duties of the contract teachers are the same as the duties of the called teachers is telling.”