St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Leonid Andronov/Adobe Stock NY's Top Court Mulls Whether State Can Investigate Fired Catholic Priest's Bias Claim
Among the issues is whether the ministerial exception in employment cases applies to hostile work environment allegations.
October 17, 2024 at 06:16 PM
6 minute read
New York's top court on Thursday heard arguments in a civil rights, jurisdictional dispute between a Black priest who filed discrimination and wrongful termination claims to a state agency after the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo fired him.
The Diocese's attorneys from Bond Schoeneck & King asked the New York Court of Appeals not to upend a doctrine that prevents the state from determining whether the priest had endured a hostile work environment because it would run afoul of a ministerial exception, derived from the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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