Fourth Circuit Rules That Title VII’s Religious Exemption Applies to Harassment and Retaliation Claims

The intersection of civil rights statutes and religious institutions has been in the news of late, with the Supreme Court recently granting cert in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC on the question of whether the “ministerial exception” (a doctrine rooted in the First Amendment, not Title VII) applies to teachers at religious schools who teach secular subjects.

The Fourth Circuit, in Kennedy v. St. Joseph’s Ministries, confronted the question of whether an employee’s Title VII claim for retaliation and harassment was barred under that statute’s religious organization exemption. The panel, in a 2-1 vote, ruled that it did. The majority noted that the word “employment” as defined in the statute is not limited to hiring or firing, relying on canons of statutory interpretation in the process. The dissent took issue with the propriety of granting an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. 1292(b), instead questioning whether Kennedy’s complaint states a claim in the first place. However, the dissent did not address the religious exemption issue on the merits.