In
Aparicio v. Christian Union, Inc., (SD NY, March 29, 2019), a New York federal district court dismissed a Title VII retaliation claim brought by an employee of a religious organization. Christian Union is a non-profit organization that operates student leadership organizations at Ivy League colleges. Plaintiff, CUI's former Director of Public Affairs, claims that he was fired because he complained that CUI's policy of excluding women from leadership positions in the organization violates Title VII's anti-discrimination provision. Title VII explicitly allows religious organizations to discriminate on the basis of religion (but not on other bases). The court here, however, went further. While concluding that the ministerial exception doctrine does not apply, it held:
... CUI's "complementarian" policy, which reserves executive positions for men, reflects its right to choose who performs certain religious roles within the organization. Therefore, in this case, the Free Exercise Clause bars the Court from asserting Title VII's secular sensibilities on who CUI allows to perform its highest religious roles.
Furthermore, Title VII's anti-retaliation provision does not apply when the basis for the alleged retaliation are an employee's objections to his or her employer's religious discrimination.... Essentially, Title VII "permits religious organizations to advance their religious missions by discriminating based on religion in employment," and, where a retaliation claim is based on complaints directed toward that permissible discrimination, Title VII's anti-retaliation provision "does not apply." Lown v. Salvation Army, Inc., 393 F. Supp. 2d 223, 246, 254 (S.D.N.Y. 2005).
Accordingly, applying Title VII's discrimination and retaliation provisions to CUI's "complementarian" policy violate the Free Exercise Clause. For that reason, Plaintiff's Title VII anti-retaliation claim must be dismissed.
