Court Opinion

ID: 9559287
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:25:45.229199+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:10:32.095706
License: Public Domain

Justice MULLARKEY
concurring:
The majority holds that Holley Van Osdol’s retaliation claim, pursuant to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17 (1988 & Supp. V 1993), and certain of her intentional tort claims against the United Churches of Religious Science, Mile Hi Church of Religious Science, and Hugh Frederick Vogt, are precluded by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and were properly dismissed by the trial court under C.R.C.P. 12(b)(1) and (5). It also holds that the First Amendment does not preclude all employment related claims brought by a minister against her church. Maj. op. at 1134 n. 18 and accompanying text. *1135The majority directs the court of appeals to remand to the district court for further proceedings consistent with its opinion. Maj. op. at 1134.
I agree with the majority’s interpretation. However, I write separately to make explicit that, on remand, Van Osdol may be able to amend her complaint to state a claim which comes within the parameters of permissible claims recognized by the majority. Prom my review of the complaint, it appears that Van Osdol may have a claim under the rationale of Black v. Snyder, 471 N.W.2d 715 (Minn.Ct.App.1991), review denied, (Minn. Aug. 29, 1991), a case upon which the majority relies. Maj. op. at 1134 n. 18.
In Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 66, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 2405, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986), the Supreme Court held that a hostile work environment caused by sexual harassment is a form of actionable sex discrimination under Title VII. Subsequently, in Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S.-, -, 114 S.Ct. 367, 371, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993), the Supreme Court explained that a hostile or abusive work environment “can be determined only by looking at all the circumstances” which may include:
the frequency of the discriminatory conduct; its severity; whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance. The effect on the employee’s psychological well-being is, of course, relevant to determining whether the plaintiff actually found the environment abusive.
Id. at-, 114 S.Ct. at 371.
Such an analysis does not require inquiry into intrinsically ecclesiastical concerns as would be the case if a court examined minister hiring and discharge decision-making which is at the heart of Van Osdol’s retaliation claim. Evaluation of whether a hostile work environment exists does not impinge on core religious beliefs such that either the free exercise of religion is affected or there is threat of excessive governmental entanglement. The First Amendment defense to a claim based on a hostile work environment caused by sexual harassment must fail.
In Black v. Snyder, 471 N.W.2d 715, the Minnesota Court of Appeals considered a number of claims brought by a female associate pastor, Susan Black, against her supervising pastor and the church. Black alleged that her supervisor had sexually harassed her and that she had reported the harassment to the proper internal church authorities but to no avail. Shortly thereafter, Black was discharged. Black then brought suit alleging sexual harassment and retaliation under state human rights laws, breach of contract, defamation, and wrongful termination. After reviewing the pertinent ease law, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that Black’s breach of contract, retaliation, and whistle blower claims were fundamentally connected to issues of church doctrine and governance because they related specifically to factors of appointment. Id. at 721.
However, the Black court permitted the plaintiff to maintain her claim for sexual harassment under the Minnesota Human Rights Act because the claim was related to pre-discharge conduct on the part of the defendants and the sexual harassment claim did “not involve scrutiny of church doctrine, interfere in matters of an inherently ecclesiastical nature, or infringe upon the church’s religious practice.” Id. at 721; see also Joanne C. Brant, “Our Shield Belongs to the Lord”: Religious Employers and a Constitutional Right to Discriminate, 21 Hastings Const. L.Q. 275, 296-97 (1994) (there are exceptions to the First Amendment’s bar of actions brought by clergy members against their churches when “proof of the employer’s wrongdoing can be accomplished without inquiring into religious doctrine”).
Invoking a similar rationale, we have permitted tort actions against churches and clergy members under circumstances where clergy members have entered into sexual relations with female parishioners while in the process of counseling the parishioners. See Moses v. Diocese of Colo., 863 P.2d 310, 321 (Colo.1993) (“Civil actions against clergy members and their superiors that involve claims of a breach of fiduciary duty, negligent hiring and supervision, and vicarious liability are actionable if they are supported *1136by competent evidence in the record.”), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 2153, 128 L.Ed.2d 880 (1994); Destefano v. Grabrian, 763 P.2d 275, 284 (Colo.1988) (“When the alleged wrongdoing of a cleric clearly falls outside the beliefs and doctrine of his religion, he cannot avail himself of the protection afforded by the first amendment.”).
Under the Black analysis, and under Moses and Destefano, a claim for hostile work environment sexual harassment survives a First Amendment challenge. Here, Van Os-dol alleges that Vogt sexually harassed church employees and a parishioner. She claims that the church hierarchy rebuffed her reports of the sexual harassment and failed to take appropriate remedial measures. Whether the alleged sexual harassment amounts to a hostile work environment is initially a matter of pleading to be decided by Van Osdol and, if pled, it becomes a matter for resolution by the trial court. Accordingly, I respectfully concur in the court’s opinion.
SCOTT, J., joins in this concurrence.