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Religious Freedom Restoration Act, ADEA, and ministers
February 19, 2006 by Ross Runkel at LawMemo
Is the “ministerial exception” dead?
The general rule is that federal anti-discrimination statutes do not apply to disputes between religious entities and their spiritual leaders. This is the ministerial exception. Well, not so fast. Maybe the Religious Freedom Restoration Act changes all that.
In Hankins v. Lyght (2nd Cir 02/16/2006) an ordained clergyman of the Methodist church claimed he was forcibly retired because he had reached the age of 70. Naturally, he sued under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Just as naturally, the trial court threw out the suit, citing the ministerial exception.
The 2nd Circuit (voting 2-1) had a different idea: Apply the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA):
(a) In general. Government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except as provided in subsection (b).
(b) Exception. Government may substantially burden a person's exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person--
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.
The court framed the issue on appeal as whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) amended the ADEA. The court found that both the EEOC and private parties could enforce the provisions of the ADEA and, thus, the substance of the ADEA could not change depending on whether the EEOC or a private party brought the enforcement action. The court joined other circuits in holding that the RFRA was constitutional as applied to federal law under the Necessary and Proper Clause of the United States Constitution. The court stated that the RFRA amended the ADEA and governed the merits of this action.
The DISSENT argued that the RFRA by its own terms did not apply to suits between private parties and that the "ministerial exception" applied to the ADEA.
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