Americans United urges Supreme Court to prevent employers from gutting workers’ safety net with overly broad religious exemptions

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, joined by seven religious and civil-rights organizations, today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision that five organizations that provide nonreligious social services but are associated with the Catholic Church are not entitled to a religious exemption from paying state unemployment taxes.

In an amicus brief filed today in the case Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, AU and allies reminded the court of the country’s multi-century tradition of laws and courts relying on objective factors to determine whether entities qualify for religious exemptions.

Amicus brief warns against collapse of workers’ protections

The brief warns that if the U.S. Supreme Court adopts the rationale of Catholic Charities and its lawyers at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, any entity that claims a religious motivation could exempt itself from laws protecting employees, our civil rights, and much more – all with no objective review from courts. A likely outcome is that legislators would repeal religious exemptions written into such laws to prevent an explosion in the number of entities exempted and the systems that protect employees from collapsing.

Americans United President and CEO Rachel Laser issued the following statement:

“This case is part of a dangerous trend: Christian Nationalist legal groups want employers who claim a religious motive to be able to sidestep worker protection requirements without any court review of the claim. The employer might work in a secular business, operate in a secular way, receive government funding, and hire people of all religions and none, but still be exempt from important safeguards on religious grounds. If the Christian Nationalists succeed, the mere invocation of religious beliefs would be allowed to erase important social safety nets and worker and civil rights protections.  

Courts have a duty to ensure employers qualify for religious exemptions

“Unemployment insurance is among our country’s critical protections for hard-working Americans who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. We urge the Supreme Court to affirm that courts have a duty to ensure that employers seeking to evade contributing to this safety net are qualified for the limited religious exemptions under the law.”

Organizations joining Americans United’s brief include the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation; ACLU of Wisconsin; Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice; Interfaith Alliance; National Council of Jewish Women; Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association; and Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus.

The brief’s authors include Americans United Associate Vice President and Associate Legal Director Alex J. Luchenitser and Litigation Fellow Jess Zalph.