Poland in ‘Law360’ and Wolters Kluwer on SCOTUS Decision Involving Ministerial Exception

Chicago Partner Christian Poland was quoted July 8 by Law360 and in Wolters Kluwer’s Labor & Employment Law Daily concerning the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrissey-Berru, which gives faith-based institutions wider leeway to hire and fire employees whose jobs involve religious duties. Poland, leader of BCLP’s Religious Organizations Practice Group, authored an amicus brief in the case on behalf of a religious university and a Baptist church. He told Law360 that the ruling expands the scope of the ministerial exception to teachers with “less religious indicia” than the teacher involved in a previous case. “There is occasional and unavoidable tension between religious autonomy and enforcement of societal expectations regarding nondiscrimination. … While some may view today’s decision as ‘immunizing’ religious groups from complying with statutory nondiscrimination directives, the First Amendment required the outcome of the Our Lady case,” he told Wolters Kluwer. “A religious institution’s mission and identity is protected from governmental intrusion when it comes to the selection and retention of its message bearers.”