Ministerial Exception Barred Seminarians' Claims For Unpaid Overtime
Rosas v. The Corporation of the Catholic Archbishop of Seattle, 598 F.3d 668 (9th Cir. 2010)
Cesar Rosas and Jesus Alcazar were Catholic seminarians who sued the Corporation of the Catholic Archbishop for, among other things, failure to pay them overtime wages under Washington state law. Based on the ministerial exception, the district court dismissed the case on the pleadings. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding that the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment require a “ministerial exception” to employment statutes if the statute’s application would interfere with a religious institution’s employment decisions concerning its ministers.
