Suit Invokes Whistle Blower Protections of Dodd-Frank Against Religious Organization

The Tennessean yesterday reported on a lawsuit, recently removed to federal court, testing the extent to which employees of the Southern Baptist Convention and its International Mission Board are protected by the whistle blower protections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Sec. 21F of the Securities Exchange Act). Plaintiff is Ron Nollner, a former Nashville Metro councilman, who, with his wife, was sent to India to oversee construction of an office building for the International Mission Board. Nollner says he was fired when he complained about illegal and unsafe  building practices and reported that the builder and the architect were paying bribes to obtain approvals to complete the building. While so far defendants have raised mainly procedural issues, they indicate they will assert the ministerial exception defense if the case is not dismissed on other grounds.