9th Circuit sides with religious group that rescinded job offer over worker's same-sex spouse
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
An international religious ministry that offered a woman a job as a customer service representative was entitled to withdraw that offer after learning she was married to another woman, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, citing the Supreme Court’s broad “ministerial exception” from civil rights laws.
Although the low-paying position Aubry McMahon sought with World Vision in Washington state involved only contact with donors and members of the public and would not have required her to take part in worship services, those contacts can be considered “key religious functions central to World Vision’s mission,” said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Unlike secretaries, accountants or janitors that perform in-house work, customer-service representatives are “responsible for effectively communicating World Vision’s involvement in ministries and projects around the world,” Judge Richard Tallman wrote in a 3-0 ruling that reversed a federal judge’s decision in McMahon’s favor.
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The ruling was based on the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in the Hosanna-Tabor case in 2012 that allowed religious organizations to classify some of their non-clergy employees — in that case, a teacher at a religious school — as “ministers” who can be fired because of their race, sex, sexual orientation or other grounds normally forbidden by civil rights laws.
Read more: https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/9th-circuit-ruling-world-vision-20803414.php
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