Catholic School Principal's Retaliatory Discharge Claim Dismissed

In Rehfield v. Diocese of Joliet, (IL App., Dec. 10, 2019), an Illinois state appeals court dismissed a suit by the former principal of a Catholic school who contended that she was the victim of a retaliatory discharge. Her suit raised both common law and Whistleblower Act claims. Plaintiff's firing came after controversy over her contacting the police about a threatening phone call from a parent to the parish priest. In dismissing the suit, the court said in part:

[T]he ecclesiastical abstention doctrine applied to Rehfield’s claims. Further, since this case involved the Diocese’s subjective decision to terminate Rehfield’s employment and did not involve church charters, constitutions and bylaws, deeds, State statutes, or other evidence that would resolve the matter the same as it would a secular dispute, we decline to employ the neutral principals of law approach.... Last, because we find the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine applied to Rehfield’s claims, we need not address ... whether claims for common law retaliatory discharge are available to contractual employees.