Oregon high court upholds jobless benefits for fired minister

By The Associated Press

10.27.02

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SALEM, Ore. — Church ministers are entitled to collect unemployment benefits, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 24 in rejecting challenges to the jobless aid system based on constitutional religious freedoms.

The decision came in a long battle over whether ministers are included in the unemployment payment system funded by payroll taxes on employers.

The lawsuit was brought by the Newport Church of the Nazarene after the state decided that Gordon Hensley could collect unemployment benefits after he was fired as a church youth minister in 1994.

The church said because the unemployment law allows the state Employment Department to inquire into the reasons behind the firing, it unreasonably infringes on the church's autonomy under the U.S. Constitution.

The state Supreme Court, upholding a 1999 state Court of Appeals ruling, unanimously disagreed.

"The church autonomy doctrine might insulate the church from the dictates of a secular court regarding liturgy and leadership, but it does not permit a church, as a general matter, to cloak its decisions and actions in secrecy when the law requires compliance with the requirements of civil law," the court said.

Kelly E. Ford, attorney for the Newport Church, said the church was unhappy with the court's decision but did not plan to appeal.

"I believe the court has not given due weight to the constitutional protection that is afforded to the church that prevents the state from reviewing decisions involving their doctrine and practice," he said. "The U.S. Supreme court has been very clear that such interference is absolutely prohibited and has failed to apply that doctrine in this case."

The court said it had to weigh the interests of the state in deciding whether a requirement of the unemployment compensation program excessively burdens a church.

The unemployment system "does not violate the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because the burdens placed upon the church are essential to accomplishing the overriding state interest in providing unemployment compensation benefits," the court said in the opinion by Chief Justice Wallace Carson.