The First Amendment and employment law collided recently in the Supreme Court in a lawsuit involving allegations of employment discrimination in a religious institution. The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a case that may affect teachers working at parochial schools and religious institutions in Ohio, Kentucky and across the United States.

This blog discussed the workplace discrimination case after the high court heard oral argument last October. The court issued its ruling this week on the "ministerial exception" to employment discrimination laws.

Lower courts across the country previously returned conflicting rulings over whether the "ministerial exception" to employment discrimination laws should be recognized. The high court ruled that the First Amendment immunizes churches and their affiliated operations from antidiscrimination laws when the issue involves religious employees. But the ruling left many issues unresolved.

The court held that due to the First Amendment protection of freedom of religion, churches are better suited than U.S. courts to determine whether religious employees should be hired or fired. The court's ruling, however, did not explicitly define what a religious employee constitutes, leaving issues of job bias at religious institutions and schools open for future cases.

For instance, the ruling does not expressly define whether a professor at any of the nation's religious affiliated colleges or universities who does not teach any courses in religion is affected by this week's ruling.

A law professor from Notre Dame Law School says the ruling apparently may affect some teachers at the nation's religion-affiliated schools, while other teachers may escape the reach of this week's decision and be able to sue under state and federal anti-discrimination laws. He says, "There are going to be some employee relationships involving religious institutions that are not religious at all, and those are not going to be covered."

Future cases may hinge on whether or not a court of law considers an employee as being involved in the religious mission of the institution. In the next post, this blog will discuss in more detail the court's ruling, including what some of the Justices wrote in deciding the issue.

Source: AP via Washington Post, "Supreme Court keeps church job-bias disputes out of court, but leaves unanswered questions," Jan. 11, 2012