Fridae

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has upheld a gay employee’s discrimination victory against Catholic Relief Services. In a 2–1 ruling on 16 October, the court rejected the agency’s religious defences for withdrawing his husband’s health insurance.

John Doe, as he is named in the case, raised the insurance question before joining CRS. At a job fair in 2016, he told a recruiter he was gay and married. Would his husband be covered? The recruiter said yes, and his husband was enrolled after Doe took the job.

Five months later, CRS said the enrolment had been a mistake. Covering his husband conflicted with its religious values, the agency told him. Doe declined an alternative compensation arrangement, and CRS eventually ended the benefits. He worked there until 2024.

By the time of the appeal, CRS was no longer disputing that it had paid Doe unequally because of sex. It argued that protections for religious employers shielded it from liability. Senior Judge Henry Floyd, writing for the majority, said Title VII’s religious exemption permitted religious preferences in employment, but did not excuse sex discrimination.

The ruling leaves Doe’s $60,000 judgment in place under Title VII and Maryland’s Fair Employment Practices Act. The parties had agreed on that amount if CRS was found liable.

CRS did not invoke the separate ministerial exception, which protects religious institutions’ decisions about employees who perform religious functions. Judge Quattlebaum dissented: he argued that church autonomy should prevent courts from reviewing this faith-based decision.