A Manhattan judge has dismissed a wrongful termination suit filed by an employee of an agency of the United Methodist Church, holding that adjudicating the dispute would require the judge to violate the First Amendment by interpreting the denomination’s religious code of conduct.
Justice Charles Ramos’ Jan. 29 ruling in Mills v. Standing General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, 601640/09, is the first New York decision to examine the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court last year in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & Sch v. EEOC, 565 US, 132 S.Ct. 694, which held that religious institutions’ choice of religious leaders is exempt from federal discrimination laws.
