Jurisprudencia norteamericana sobre autonomía de las Iglesias y relaciones laborales: Doctrina de la “excepción ministerial”. Parte II: Después de "Hosanna-Tabor" (2012)

Abstract

In 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States recognized the constitutional validity of the doctrine of the ministerial exception in Hosanna-Tabor. The Court limited its scope to employment discrimination, leaving open the question of the application of the doctrine in other areas, and avoided a fixed test at the time of defining the minister, thus applying the “all the circumstances” test. The courts have been applying that doctrine and have extended it in other sectors such as the contractual claims, that of sexual abuse and harassment of the clergy, that of the hostile work environment, or that of civil liability for damages. The courts could not enter into ecclesiastical disputes over religious doctrine or litigation over government decisions or ecclesiastical discipline. Since in those cases it was not possible to apply neutral principles of law to solve them, the First Amendment required them to abstain.