In Leaphart v. American Friends Service Committee, (ED PA, Oct. 22, 2008), plaintiff charged racial discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in connection with the refusal by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to hire and/or interview him for four positions within the organization. According to a report in Monday's Legal Intelligencer, plaintiff Jerry Leaphart was a corporate lawyer who underwent a spiritual transformation and decided to move to a law practice that focused on social justice. He applied for positions as director of the Quaker United Nations Office; director of Quaker Affairs; associate director of AFSC's community relations unit; and director of affirmative action.
A Pennsylvania federal district court rejected AFSC's assertion of the "ministerial exception" as a defense in the lawsuit. First it found that defendant had waived the defense. However, even if it was not waived, the exception would not apply because the positions at issue were not pastoral or ministerial in nature. The court denied defendant's motion for summary judgment, holding that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to find that the reasons given for not hiring plaintiff were pretextual.
