Because the school’s only proof of a violation of its morals code was the pregnancy itself, “only a woman could be punished, not a man,” Mr. McKinney said.
“If you’re going to punish someone for doing something,” he said, “it has to be applied equally and evenly.”
Ms. Crisitello, who attended St. Theresa School as a child, was fired in 2014 and no longer works as a teacher. Her daughter was later baptized in the Catholic church that runs the prekindergarten-to eighth-grade school.
Ms. Crisitello, through her lawyer, declined to comment. School officials did not return a call for comment.
“I don’t think she expected any of this,” Mr. McKinney said. “I don’t look at this as an attack on the Catholic Church.”
Last July, the Supreme Court ruled that federal employment discrimination laws do not apply to teachers at church-run schools whose duties include religious instruction. In doing so, it expanded the scope of employees deemed outside the reach of employment discrimination protections — known as the “ministerial exception” to workplace bias laws.
It is no longer only trained or ordained ministers and religious leaders who may be excluded from work bias protections; the federal court ruled that lay employees involved in promoting church doctrine were also exempt from federal employment discrimination laws.
Doobledorf on June 28th, 2021 at 14:20 UTC »
I'm a gay man who worked at a Catholic school and it is UNREAL how common this is, and how many woman are okay with it. I remember complaining about these policies and that, by merely being out, I was at risk of being fired. A female coworker responded: "Yeah, but if I got pregnant I would be fired too." Yeah... I'm not okay with that either?
Yet, everybody has to do training to ensure we don't even look like we've sexually assaulted a kid, but they're very careful to never say WHY these trainings are mandatory for everybody who works for the Catholic church. The men who run that church are terrified of equal accountability. (hell, ANY accountability)
seriffluoride on June 28th, 2021 at 13:34 UTC »
Oof.
I also studied in an all-girls Catholic school with branches all over the country. There's also a case involving one of the branch schools of my former Alma Mater
Tl;dr: "Cheryll Santos Leus (petitioner) was hired by St. Scholastica’s College Westgrove (SSCW), a Catholic educational institution, as a non-teaching personnel, engaged in pre-marital sexual relations, got pregnant out of wedlock, married the father of her child, and was dismissed by SSCW, in that order. The question that has to be resolved is whether the petitioner’s conduct constitutes a ground for her dismissal."
Imagine getting pregnant out of wedlock being 1) part of school staff that students neither care nor know about, and 2) marrying the baby dady, but still get fired anyway.
Thankfully the Supreme Court promulgated its Decision in the petitioner's favor, but God, imagine the headache, the stress and the financial drain pursuing this case up to the Supreme Court, to begin with 😣
P.S. This case is from the Philippines where abortion is illegal btw.
Meretneith on June 28th, 2021 at 12:42 UTC »
They don't only not punish the priests who raped and molested children. That would be bad enough. They actively cover up their crimes (often by placing the priests somewhere else without telling their new congregation what they did and thus knowingly giving them access to new victims), protect the perpetrators, interfere with prosecution and silence and shame the victims.