Priest's Salary Claim Dismissed As Requiring Interpretation of Canon Law

In Tarasi v. Jugis, (NC Ct. App., March 16, 2010), a North Carolina appellate court dismissed a claim by a Catholic priest that his Bishop violated the state's Wage and Hour Act by refusing to assign him to a congregation or pay him a salary, despite a direction from the Vatican to do so. The instructions from the Vatican called for the Bishop to provide the priest "with an adequate means of livelihood and the appropriate necessities as envisioned in canons 281 § 1 and 384 of the Code of Canon Law, and that which is established by Diocesan Particular law regarding the sustenance of clergy." The court held that the First Amendment precludes it from taking jurisdiction. Determining the amount of compensation to which plaintiff is entitled would require the court to interpret canon law.