Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC held that the First Amendment barred a court from entertaining an employment discrimination claim brought by an elementary school teacher against the religious school where she taught.

True or False

1. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC held that the First Amendment barred a court from entertaining an employment discrimination claim brought by an elementary school teacher against the religious school where she taught.

2. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC held that the First Amendment barred a court from entertaining an employment discrimination claim brought by an elementary school teacher against the religious school where she taught.

3. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC rejected the ministerial exception to laws governing the employment relationship between a religious institution and certain key employees.

4. The ministerial exception to the ADA allows religious congregations to discriminate (or refuse to accommodate) against ministers on the basis of their disability. Stated another way, religious congregations are exempt from the ADA’s requirements.

5. There is a rigid formula for determining whether the ministerial exception applies.

6. The ministerial exception recognized in Hosanna-Tabor extends to teachers that are not called “ministers” but whose duties include religious instruction, provided the job duties of the teachers includes the religious education and formation of children.

7. In Hosanna Tabor, Justice Thomas argued that the courts should defer to religious authorities to determine whether the ministerial exception applies. The majority’s approach in Our Lady of Guadalupe School is not entirely deferential to religious authority, but places great emphasis on the institution’s religious role and the teachers’ role as instructors in the faith. Given that the teachers in Our Lady of Guadalupe School were not required to be Catholic, let alone practicing Catholics, this may be a distinction without a difference.

8. Both employers involved in Our Lady of Guadalupe (unlike the employer in Hosanna-Tabor), claimed a religion-related reason for the discharge of their teachers.

9. In Hosanna-Tabor, the Court declined to express a view on whether the ministerial exception bars other types of suits, and also noted that the exception would not in any way bar criminal prosecutions for interfering with law enforcement investigations or other proceedings.

10. The Supreme Court issued an opinion on the Free Exercise Clause in 2022.