NJ Supreme Court sides with Catholic school in employment lawsuit
August 16, 2023 at 12:30 p.m.
New Jersey religious schools will retain the ability to apply moral teaching to their codes of conduct, after a State Supreme Court ruling Aug. 14 in favor of St. Theresa School.
The unanimous ruling by the seven-person Court upholds existing law that allows a Catholic school to enforce an employee code of conduct in line with Catholic teaching, and to terminate employment for those in violation.
“Teachers make the school,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket Law, who argued the case to the New Jersey Supreme Court. “The whole point of a religious school is to help parents educate their children in their faith. And to do that, schools must have teachers who believe in and follow their faith.”
The specific case, Victoria Crisitello v. St. Theresa School, pertained to a former art teacher at the school in Kenilworth, Archdiocese of Newark. Crisitello’s contract was not renewed in 2014 because she violated the terms of the contract, which required adherence to Catholic moral teaching, including regarding sexual behavior. According to court documents, Crisitello had engaged in premarital sex while employed by the school and revealed she was pregnant despite not being married.
Crisitello later sued the school for discrimination based on her pregnancy and marital status, to which St. Theresa School argued that the pregnancy was not the cause for her termination, but rather the violation of the Code of Professional and Ministerial Conduct.
In an Amicus brief filed by Becket on behalf of Agudath Israel of America – a national Orthodox Jewish advocacy organization – the autonomy of religious institutions was emphasized.
“The First Amendment’s church autonomy doctrine protects religious schools and other religious institutions from interference with their internal operations and governance,” the brief stated. “Religious institutions – especially religious schools that seek to inculcate religious beliefs, values, and conduct in their students – should have the ability to require that their employees conduct themselves in ways that conform to and do not contradict the religious beliefs and practices of the particular institution.”
Court documents added that the ethics code of St. Theresa School demanded that employees “abide by a code of conduct that was not contrary to the discipline and teachings of the Catholic Church[,] and/or which may result in scandal . . . or harm to the ministry of the Catholic Church.”
Source material from writer Peter Pinedo and National Catholic Register contributed to this article. To read the original report, visit https://www.ncregister.com/cna/new-jersey-supreme-court-rules-catholic-school-can-require-teachers-to-follow-catholic-teaching.
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New Jersey religious schools will retain the ability to apply moral teaching to their codes of conduct, after a State Supreme Court ruling Aug. 14 in favor of St. Theresa School.
The unanimous ruling by the seven-person Court upholds existing law that allows a Catholic school to enforce an employee code of conduct in line with Catholic teaching, and to terminate employment for those in violation.
“Teachers make the school,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket Law, who argued the case to the New Jersey Supreme Court. “The whole point of a religious school is to help parents educate their children in their faith. And to do that, schools must have teachers who believe in and follow their faith.”
The specific case, Victoria Crisitello v. St. Theresa School, pertained to a former art teacher at the school in Kenilworth, Archdiocese of Newark. Crisitello’s contract was not renewed in 2014 because she violated the terms of the contract, which required adherence to Catholic moral teaching, including regarding sexual behavior. According to court documents, Crisitello had engaged in premarital sex while employed by the school and revealed she was pregnant despite not being married.
Crisitello later sued the school for discrimination based on her pregnancy and marital status, to which St. Theresa School argued that the pregnancy was not the cause for her termination, but rather the violation of the Code of Professional and Ministerial Conduct.
In an Amicus brief filed by Becket on behalf of Agudath Israel of America – a national Orthodox Jewish advocacy organization – the autonomy of religious institutions was emphasized.
“The First Amendment’s church autonomy doctrine protects religious schools and other religious institutions from interference with their internal operations and governance,” the brief stated. “Religious institutions – especially religious schools that seek to inculcate religious beliefs, values, and conduct in their students – should have the ability to require that their employees conduct themselves in ways that conform to and do not contradict the religious beliefs and practices of the particular institution.”
Court documents added that the ethics code of St. Theresa School demanded that employees “abide by a code of conduct that was not contrary to the discipline and teachings of the Catholic Church[,] and/or which may result in scandal . . . or harm to the ministry of the Catholic Church.”
Source material from writer Peter Pinedo and National Catholic Register contributed to this article. To read the original report, visit https://www.ncregister.com/cna/new-jersey-supreme-court-rules-catholic-school-can-require-teachers-to-follow-catholic-teaching.