Springs legal seminar for ministries scheduled Monday
A recent U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling affirming an organization’s ability to hire only Christians had many ministries in Colorado Springs and around the country ecstatic.
Springs ministries Focus on the Family, Compassion International, Bibles for the World and others got legal precedent for hiring only people with the same religious beliefs.
But Colorado Springs attorney Martin Nussbaum says the issue is not over.
“There is uncertainty in our law, and ministries concerned about protecting their freedom to staff themselves with like-minded people of faith need to take precautions,” Nussbaum said.
Nussbaum and other attorneys at Rothgerber, Johnson & Lyons are holding a seminar Monday called “Staffing Ministries with Fellow Believers” to educate faith groups on legal developments that could affect how they hire. It will focus on a ruling involving World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization with offices around the world that helps impoverished children and families.
The ministry fired three employees because they weren’t aligned with its Christian beliefs. The former workers sued, arguing that World Vision is a humanitarian group and therefore not protected under the Title VII exemption of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The exemption enables religious organizations to legally hire only like-minded people of faith.
A district court found in favor of World Vision, and in August a circuit court upheld the ruling.
But the opinion written by one of the appellate judges has opened up potential issues. The judge wrote that an additional test to determine if an employer is a religious organization is that the group must not sell goods or services.
The test, Nussbaum said, would arguably exclude from religious exemption retreat centers, church preschools, Christian camps, Christian book publishers and others. It could mean they would have to hire people not in line with their faith or face discrimination lawsuits.
Nussbaum will address ways ministries can formulate their articles, bylaws and statements of purpose and organize their human resources department to avoid being designated an organization without Title VII exemption protection.
“Preserving a ministry’s freedom to staff with fellow believers is so important that all ministries should take precautions,” he said.
The seminar also will touch on employee benefits and how anti-terrorism legislation impacts international ministries.
Go to Barna’s blog, The Pulpit, at www.thepulpit.freedomblogging.com, to read about a bill that Focus on the Family is fighting that could remove religious rights protections.
“Staffing Ministries with Fellow Believers”
Where: Every Home for Christ, 640 Chapel Hills Drive
When: 8 a.m.-noon Monday
Cost: free
Register at www.rothgerber.com; click on “Staffing Ministries with Fellow Believers”
