Lockers are seen at a High School. Picture taken April 13, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah Beier
(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court has ruled that a Catholic high school in Indianapolis is immune from claims that it unlawfully fired its head guidance counselor after she revealed that she was in a same-sex relationship.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said on Thursday that an exemption from anti-discrimination laws for religious organizations also applies when workers bring contract claims under state law that implicate religious matters.
The so-called "ministerial exception" bars discrimination claims against churches and affiliated organizations by workers with religious duties. The U.S. Supreme Court in the 2020 case Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru embraced a broad interpretation of the exception, applying it to Catholic school teachers who did not have explicitly religious roles.
The 7th Circuit, joining every other federal appeals court to consider the issue, said that because the exception arises from the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, it applies to employment-related claims brought under state laws that implicate a church's internal governance.
Officials at Roncalli High School and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, which is also a defendant in the case, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did a lawyer for the plaintiff, Lynn Starkey.
Starkey sued Roncalli in 2019, claiming her...
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