NJ Supreme Court allows religious schools to select teachers based on their religious beliefs.
The Supreme Court of New Jersey Upholds Religious Schools’ Right to Screen Employees Based on Faith
The Supreme Court of New Jersey made a landmark ruling on Monday, affirming that religious schools have the authority to screen their employees based on their adherence to the institution’s faith. This decision comes after St. Theresa School, a Catholic elementary school in the Archdiocese of Newark, terminated the contract of a teacher who became pregnant out of wedlock, in violation of church teaching.
“The religious tenets exception allowed St. Theresa’s to require its employees, as a condition of employment, to abide by Catholic law, including that they abstain from premarital sex,” Justice Lee Solomon wrote in his opinion.
New Jersey law recognizes the right of religious institutions to establish employment criteria based on their faith, as Justice Solomon explained. This provision serves as an “affirmative defense available to a religious entity when confronted with a claim of employment discrimination.”
The case involved Victoria Crisitello, a former student of St. Theresa’s who later became an art teacher and toddler room caregiver at the school. She was fired in 2014 after becoming pregnant out of wedlock. The school cited her violation of church doctrine, which explicitly prohibits premarital sex, a condition she had agreed to in her employment contract.
When Crisitello filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging discrimination based on her pregnancy and marital status, the school argued that her termination was not solely due to her pregnancy but rather her engagement in sex outside of marriage.
Additionally, the school raised First Amendment concerns, asserting that a ruling against them would infringe on matters of faith, doctrine, and internal governance. Agudath Israel of America, a national Orthodox Jewish organization representing the interests of Jewish schools, supported St. Theresa’s position by filing a brief.
Agudath Israel enlisted the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, whose vice president and senior counsel, Eric Rassbach, presented the organization’s argument before the court. Rassbach emphasized the importance of teachers who believe in and follow their faith in religious schools, stating, “Teachers make the school.”
The Supreme Court of New Jersey chose not to address the constitutional questions in this case, opting to rely on statutory reasoning and only resort to ruling on the Constitution “if necessary.”
Read more: The Washington Examiner
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