Kennedy v. St. Joseph's Ministries Inc.

• Decision Date: 14 September 2011
• Docket Number: No. 10–1792.,10–1792.
• Citation: 94 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44268,113 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 374,657 F.3d 189
• Parties: Lori KENNEDY, Plaintiff–Appellee,v.ST. JOSEPH'S MINISTRIES, INC., d/b/a St. Joseph's Ministries, Defendant–Appellant.Alliance Defense Fund; National Association of Evangelicals, Amici Supporting Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

657 F.3d 189

113 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 374

94 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,268

Lori KENNEDY, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.ST. JOSEPH'S MINISTRIES, INC., d/b/a St. Joseph's Ministries, Defendant–Appellant.Alliance Defense Fund; National Association of Evangelicals, Amici Supporting Appellant.

No. 10–1792.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: May 12, 2011.Decided: Sept. 14, 2011.

ARGUED: Leslie A. Powell, Law Offices of Leslie A. Powell, Frederick, Maryland, for Appellant. Dennis Chong, Michael J. Hoare, PC, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Diana M. Schobel, Paul D. Flynn, Law Offices of Leslie A. Powell, Frederick, Maryland, for Appellant. Michael J. Hoare, Michael J. Hoare, PC, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. Kevin Theriot, Alliance Defense Fund, Leawood, Kansas, for Amici Supporting Appellant.Before KING, SHEDD, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge SHEDD wrote the majority opinion, in which Judge WYNN joined. Judge KING wrote a dissenting opinion.

OPINION

SHEDD, Circuit Judge:

Lori Kennedy filed a complaint under Title VII against her former employer, Villa St. Catherine, Inc. (St. Catherine),¹ alleging that it engaged in religious discrimination and retaliation against her. After the district court ² denied St. Catherine's motion for summary judgment, St. Catherine filed this interlocutory appeal, contending that the plain language of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–1(a), the religious organization exemption, bars Kennedy's claims. In answering the question that is properly before us, we agree with St. Catherine and, accordingly, reverse the district court's decision.

I.

St. Catherine is a tax-exempt religious organization which operates a nursing-care facility in Emmitsburg, Maryland.³ It conducts itself under the direction of the Daughters of Charity, a religious order within the Roman Catholic Church, and maintains its facility in accordance with Catholic principles by engaging in numerous religious exercises. For instance, prayers are read over the intercom several times a day, the facility holds Catholic Mass on Wednesdays, and communion is available daily. In addition, a crucifix is displayed on the wall of every resident's room. Statues of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and St. Catherine's patron saint (St. Catherine Laboure) adorn the facility's landscape. St. Catherine provides new employees with a handout entitled “St. Catherine's Nursing Center Mission, Vision, and Values,” which explains that “St. Catherine's Nursing Center is a family of faith rooted in the loving ministry of Jesus as healer, and in the Catholic tradition of service.” (J.A. at 24, 31). Likewise, the employee handbook affirms St. Catherine's Catholic identity.

Against this backdrop, St. Catherine employed Kennedy from 1994 to 2007 as a geriatric nursing assistant. Kennedy is a member of the Church of the Brethren and, “as a matter of religious principle,” wears “modest garb that includes long dresses/skirts and a cover for her hair.” (J.A. at 8–9). At some point during Kennedy's employment, the Assistant Director of Nursing Services informed Kennedy that her attire was inappropriate for a Catholic facility and that it made residents and their family members feel uncomfortable. Kennedy informed the Assistant Director that her attire was a function of her religious beliefs and that she would not change it. Thereafter, Kennedy's employment was terminated on May 17, 2007.

In response, Kennedy filed this action, alleging claims under Title VII for religious harassment, retaliatory discharge, and discriminatory discharge on the basis of religion. St. Catherine immediately moved for summary judgment, ⁴ arguing that as a “religious organization” it is exempt from Title VII's reach as to claims of religious discrimination. The district court agreed with St. Catherine that Kennedy's claim for discriminatory discharge was barred but concluded that her religious harassment and retaliation claims are cognizable under Title VII. St. Catherine requested that the district court certify the order for interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), noting the potential broad-reaching effect of the ruling. The district court granted the request, and a panel of this court subsequently granted St. Catherine's petition for permission to appeal.⁵

II.

On appeal, St. Catherine argues that the plain language of § 2000e–1(a), the religious organization exemption, makes clear that Title VII does not apply to claims for religious harassment and retaliation against religious organizations.⁶ We review such questions of statutory interpretation de novo. United States v. Ide, 624 F.3d 666, 668 (4th Cir.2010). “Our first step in interpreting a statute is to determine whether the language at issue has a plain and unambiguous meaning with regard to the particular dispute in the case.” Robinson v. Shell Oil Co., 519 U.S. 337, 340, 117 S.Ct. 843, 136 L.Ed.2d 808 (1997). If the statute is unambiguous, “our inquiry into Congress' intent is at an end, for if the language is plain and the statutory scheme is coherent and consistent, we need not inquire further.” William v. Gonzales, 499 F.3d 329, 333 (4th Cir.2007) (internal quotation marks omitted). “[I]n looking to the plain meaning, we must consider the context in which the statutory words are used because ‘[w]e do not ... construe statutory phrases in isolation; we read statutes as a whole.’ ” Ayes v. United States Dep't of Veterans Affairs, 473 F.3d 104, 108 (4th Cir.2006) (quoting United States v. Morton, 467 U.S. 822, 828, 104 S.Ct. 2769, 81 L.Ed.2d 680 (1984)).

With this legal framework in place, we turn to the issue before us.

A.

Title VII makes it “an unlawful employment practice for an employer ... to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of,” inter alia, an individual's “religion.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(a)(1). Title VII also includes a retaliation provision that makes it unlawful for an employer “to discriminate against any individual ... because he has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by” Title VII. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–3(a). Title VII is not without bounds however, and has long included an exemption for religious organizations in certain circumstances. Specifically, § 2000e–1(a) provides that:

This subchapter [of Title VII] shall not apply to ... a religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association, educational institution, or society of its activities.

42 U.S.C. § 2000e–1(a).⁷

Section 2000e–1(a) does not exempt religious organizations from Title VII's provisions barring discrimination on the basis of race, gender, or national origin. Importantly, as originally enacted, the exemption applied only to personnel decisions related to carrying out an organization's religious activities. See Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints v. Amos, 483 U.S. 327, 334 n. 9, 107 S.Ct. 2862, 97 L.Ed.2d 273 (1987). The revised provision, adopted in 1972, broadens the exemption to include any activities of religious organizations, regardless of whether those activities are religious or secular in nature. Thus, “[t]he decision to employ individuals ‘of a particular religion’ under § 2000e–1(a) and § 2000e–2(e)(2) has been interpreted to include the decision to terminate an employee whose conduct or religious beliefs are inconsistent with those of its employer.” Hall v. Baptist Mem'l Health Care Corp., 215 F.3d 618, 624 (6th Cir.2000).

As St. Catherine notes, the exemption for religious organizations provides that the “subchapter,” that is, § 2000e, “shall not apply” with respect to the “employment” of individuals “of a particular religion.” The district court determined that the term “employment” was synonymous with what it termed “employment decisions” like hiring and firing. (J.A. at 70). On appeal, Kennedy presses this reading of the statute, conceding that § 2000e–1(a) bars her discriminatory discharge claim but contending that the exemption does not reach harassment or retaliation claims.

This narrow reading of “employment” is simply incompatible with the actual language of § 2000e–1(a). First, “as in all statutory construction, unless otherwise defined, words will be interpreted as taking their ordinary, contemporary, common meaning.” Bilski v. Kappos, –––U.S. ––––, 130 S.Ct. 3218, 3226, 177 L.Ed.2d 792 (2010) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted). Today, as at the time § 2000e–1(a) was originally enacted, “employment” means “the relationship between master and servant” and “the state of being employed”. Black's Law Dictionary 9th ed.; see also Merriam–Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th Ed. 2004) (defining “employment” as “activity in which one engages or is employed” or “the act of employing: the state of being employed”); Associated Gen. Contractors of America, Houston Chapter, 143 N.L.R.B. 409, 412, enforced, 349 F.2d 449 (5th Cir.1965) (“ ‘[E]mployment’ connotes the initial act of employing as well as the consequent state of being employed.”). As the Second Circuit has explained:

In instances where Congress uses terms—such as ... employment—“that have accumulated settled meaning under ... the common law,” courts generally infer, unless the statute indicates otherwise, that “Congress means to incorporate the established meaning of these terms,” e.g., “the conventional master-servant relationship as understood by common-law agency doctrine.”

Barfield v. New York City Health & Hosps. Corp., 537 F.3d 132, 141 (2d Cir.2008) (quoting Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. v. Darden, 503 U.S. 318, 322–23, 112 S.Ct. 1344, 117 L.Ed.2d 581 (1992)). This definition, which covers the breadth of the relationship...