2nd Circuit: Ministerial Exception, Not RFRA, Bars Pastor's ADEA Suit

In Hankins v. New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, (2d Cir., Oct. 13, 2009), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals held that the constitutionally-based "ministerial exception" doctrine requires dismissal of a pastor's age discrimination complaint. Plaintiff claimed that the United Methodist Church's policy requiring ministers over 70 to retire violated the federal ADEA and the New York State Human Rights Law. The court's decision affirmed the result the trial court had reached, but concluded (contrary to its own earlier holding) that it was the ministerial exception doctrine, not the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, that leads to that result. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]