A guidance counselor who lost her job at an Indianapolis Catholic school after disclosing her same-sex marriage can’t bring discrimination or state law claims against the school because she qualified as a minister, a federal appeals court in Chicago ruled.
The legal rule that excludes ministerial employees of religious institutions from the protection of anti-discrimination law also applies to common law claims, like the interference with contractual and employment relationship claims that Lynn Starkey brought against Roncalli High School, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held Thursday.
The ruling extends the “ministerial exception” to cover common law ...