Jewish Community Center's Status As Religious Organization Exempt From Title VII--Certiorari Denied
The United States Supreme
Court has denied certiorari in a Third Circuit case, leaving undisturbed a
decision that a Jewish community center was a "religious organization" exempt as
an employer from compliance with the religious discrimination provisions of
Title VII. The Court of Appeals determined that the center's structure and
purpose were primarily religious. Its articles of incorporation and bylaws
stated that its mission was to enhance and promote Jewish life, identity, and
continuity, and the lobby of the center proclaimed that mission. Also, rabbis
from three local synagogues played an advisory role in the center's management,
as non-voting members of the board of trustees. Both synagogues and local Jewish
organizations gave the center financial support. Additionally, the center kept a
kosher kitchen, and it hosted Jewish events and observed the holy Jewish
holidays.
The petition for
certiorari argued that the organization was not entitled to the exemption
because it was not controlled by a church, synagogue, board of elders, or
rabbis, was not funded by a church, synagogue, or religious organization, was
granted a tax-exemption as an educational organization, did not require staff to
adhere to any code of beliefs or behavior based on its religion, indicated in
all of its federal and state filings that its purposes were other than
religious, and agreed to a United Way policy banning religious discrimination.
LeBoon v. Lancaster
Jewish Community Center Ass'n
Read the case below: