Fired teacher: Archdiocese discriminated

Fired teacher: Archdiocese discriminated

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

At age 30 and single, Christa Dias wanted a baby and decided on artificial insemination. The results: a 14-month-old daughter she adores, a lost job and a federal discrimination lawsuit now moving forward that is being viewed as a barometer on the degree to which religious organizations can regulate employees’ lives.

Dias charges that the Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati and two elementary schools where she taught violated state and federal anti-discrimination laws by firing her in October 2010 because she was pregnant.

The archdiocese says she was fired because artificial insemination is immoral and violates church doctrine and a contract requiring all employees to “comply with and act consistently in accordance with the stated philosophy and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.”

“Parents who pay to send their children to a Catholic school have a right to expect that those children will be educated in an environment that reflects Catholic moral teaching,” archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco said in an email to The Associated Press.

Dias, who is not Catholic, says “nobody should control my right to have a child.”

Employment-law experts expect issues in the case to draw national attention.

“People will be watching to see just how far religious organizations can go in imposing religious requirements on employees without violating anti- discrimination laws,” said associate professor Carolyn Seymour of Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She and others say there also will be interest in whether it tests a Supreme Court decision’s boundaries.

The court ruled in January against a former religion teacher at a Lutheran school in Michigan who said she was fired for pursuing an employment-discrimination claim over a disability. The court said she was a “ministerial employee,” and religious groups can dismiss those employees without government interference.

The archdiocese urged the dismissal of Dias’ lawsuit, contending it could fire her because she taught at Catholic schools.