Alaska Employment Law

A 9th Circuit panel has affirmed dismissal of a Catholic seminarian’s claim for state overtime pay on the basis of the “ministerial exception.”

The Catholic Church requires seminarians to perform work outside their home diocese before ordination.  A Mexican seminarian doing mostly janitorial work in the Seattle area sued for unpaid overtime under the Washignton wage law.  The District Court dismissed on the pleadings, and the 9th Circuit affirmed, relying on the implied First Amendment-based “ministerial exception” to generally applicable federal and state statutes.  The exception has been recognized by lower courts, but not yet by the Supreme Court.

In the course of affirming, the panel held:

1)  the church-employer need not prove any “actual burden” on religion to qualify for the exception.  “The [ministerial] exception was created becauase government interference with the church-minister relationship inherently burdens religion.”  (Emph. in orig.)  Actual interference might be required if the church sought an exception for sub-ministerial employees.

2) the exception applies not only to the selection of ministers, but more broadly to “all tangible employment actions” regarding ministers, including the determination of their compensation.

3) in determining which employees are “ministerial,” the 9th Circuit rejected the “primary duties” test of the 4th and D.C. Circuits, and adopted a test similar to the 5th Circuit’s, which looks to whether the person was employed by a religious institution on religious criteria, and whether that person performs “some” religious duties and responsibilities. 

Rosas v. Corporation of the Catholic Archbishop, ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. Mar. 16, 2010)