Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 871 - Workforce Development Department › Chapter 23 - Employer's Contribution and Charges › Rule 871-23.27 - Exempt Employment in the Employ of a Church, Association of Churches or an Organization Which Is Operated Primarily for Religious Purposes

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
(1) The word
"church"
is used
			 in its limited sense and is synonymous with an individual house of worship
			 maintained by a particular congregation. Any service by an individual for a
			 church, convention or association of churches is excluded from coverage. However,
			 the exclusion does not apply to service performed for an organization which may
			 be religious in orientation unless it is operated primarily for religious
			 purposes and is operated, supervised, controlled or principally supported by a
			 church (or a convention or association of churches). Thus, the service of the
			 janitor of a church is excluded, but the service of a janitor for a separately
			 incorporated college, although it may be church related, is covered.
(2) Service for a college devoted primarily to
			 the preparation of students for the ministry is exempt, as is service for a
			 novitiate or a house of study, training candidates to become members of religious
			 orders. On the other hand, a church-related (separately incorporated) charitable
			 organization (such as an orphanage or a home for the aged) is not considered,
			 under this Act, to be operated primarily for religious purposes.
(3) The exclusion of service performed by
			 ministers in the exercise of their ministry and by members of a religious order
			 in performing the duties required by such order applies only when such service is
			 performed for nonprofit organizations ordinarily required to be covered by the
			 Iowa employment security law.
(4) A
			 minister is ordained, commissioned, or licensed, if such minister has been vested
			 with ministerial status in accordance with the procedure followed by the
			 particular church denomination. However, such minister does not have to be
			 connected with a congregation. Ministerial authority continues until revoked by
			 the church.
(5) The
			 term
"exercise of the ministry"
includes: the conduct of
			 religious worship and the ministration of sacerdotal functions; service performed
			 in the control, conduct, and maintenance of a religious organization under the
			 authority of a religious body constituting a church or church denomination, or an
			 organization operated as an integral agency of such a religious organization or
			 of a church or church denomination; service performed for any organization under
			 an assignment or designation by a church (not including cases in which a church
			 merely helps a minister by recommending such minister for a position involving
			 nonministerial services for an organization not connected with the church); and
			 missionary service or administrative work in the employ of a missionary
			 organization. Control, conduct, and maintenance of an organization do not include
			 services such as operating an elevator, or being a janitor, but refers to
			 services performed in the directing, management, or promotion of the activities
			 of the organization.
(6) Accordingly,
			 service of a clergyman (clergywoman) as a chaplain in an orphanage or in an
			 old-age home is excluded since such service is in the exercise of a ministry as
			 is the service of members of a teaching or nursing order who are engaged in
			 teaching or nursing. In the case of a member of a religious order, the criterion
			 is whether the order requires the performance of such service.
(7) School coverage.
a. Schools that are not separately incorporated
			 and are affiliated with a church are exempt from insured employment because their
			 employees are in the direct employ of a church or convention or association of
			 churches.
b. Schools that are
			 separately incorporated and are affiliated with a church are exempt from insured
			 employment if such schools are operated primarily for religious
			 purposes.
c. Schools that are not
			 affiliated with a church are covered employers with covered employment.