Religious institutions’ “ministerial exception,” which protects them from employees’ discrimination claims with respect to hiring and firing, does not extend to hostile environment charges, a divided federal appeals court said in partially overturning a lower court ruling.

The case involves a former music director at a Catholic church in Calumet City, Illinois, who was allegedly subjected to a hostile work environment by a priest because of his gay sexual orientation and disabilities, according to Monday’s ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago in Sandor Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, Calumet City, and the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Mr. Demkovich, who was hired in 2012 as the church’s music director and terminated in 2014, had been with his partner, now husband, for more than a decade at the time of his hiring. He also was overweight and suffered from diabetes and metabolic syndrome, conditions that existed before St. Andrew hired him, according to the ruling.

Mr. Demkovich alleged his supervisor, Reverend Jacek Dada, subjected him to comments and epithets showing hostility to his sexual orientation, which increased in frequency and severity after the priest learned that Mr. Demkovich intended to marry his partner, according to the ruling.

After the ceremony, Reverend Dada demanded Mr. Demkovich’s resignation because his marriage violated church teachings, and fired him after he refused, according to the ruling.

Reverend Dada also allegedly “harassed and humiliated” Mr. Demkovich because of his weight and medical issues, according to the ruling.

Mr. Demkovich filed suit in U.S. District Court in Chicago, charging hostile environment claims under both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The district court dismissed the Title VII claim but allowed the ADA claim to proceed.

The three-judge appeals panel’s majority opinion affirmed the lower court’s refusal to dismiss the ADA claim and reinstated the Title VII hostile environment claim.

The ruling cites two U.S. Supreme Court decisions: the 2012 ruling in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission et al., and the ruling earlier this year in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru.

In Hosanna-Tabor the Supreme Court held that a teacher at a church school who also taught secular subjects fell under the ministerial exception to federal discrimination law and could not pursue a charge under the ADA.

In Our Lady of Guadalupe, the court held that the ministerial exception protected a pair of parochial schools from federal age and disability discrimination charges in connection with the firing of two teachers.

Mr. Demkovich’s case raises “a question about extending the (ministerial) exception beyond hiring and firing decisions:  should the constitutional exemption be extended to categorically bar all hostile environment discrimination claims by ministerial employees, even where there is no challenge to tangible employment actions like hiring and firing? Our answer is no,” the ruling said.

Courts “have a long history of balancing and compromising to protect religious freedom while enforcing other important legal rights.

“The problem here is particularly sensitive, involving tension between the freedom of religion and employees’ rights to be free from invidious discrimination, also a compelling governmental interest,” the ruling states.

“The right balance is to bar claims by ministerial employees challenging tangible employment actions but to allow hostile environment claims that do not challenge tangible employment actions,” the ruling said. 

“Religious employers’ control over tangible employment actions — hiring, firing, promoting, deciding compensation, job assignments, and the like — provides ample protection for the free exercise of religion.

“The First Amendment does not require complete immunity from the sometimes-horrific abuse that defendants’ bright-line rule would protect,” the ruling said in reinstating Mr. Demkovich’s Title VII hostile environment claim and remanding the case for further proceedings.

The dissenting opinion stated, “The church’s First Amendment right to select and control its ministers includes the ability to supervise, manage, and communicate with them free from government interference.

“Adjudicating Demkovich’s hostile work environment claims will unavoidably and excessively entangle the courts in religious matters at the core of the protected ministerial employment relationship.”

Attorneys in the case could not be reached for comment.