Appeals court says pastor can sue church

By GENE JOHNSON
The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

The decision by the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means Monica L. McDowell Elvig can pursue her claim against the Rev. Will Ackles and Calvin Presbyterian Church in Shoreline.

The judges returned the case to federal court in Seattle, where a judge had dismissed it.

Elvig joined Calvin Presbyterian as an associate pastor in December 2000. She claimed Ackles began harassing her and created a hostile work environment. When she complained, she said, she was verbally harassed and eventually fired.

Calvin Presbyterian, which determined Elvig's claims were unsubstantiated, argued that her lawsuit violated the church's First Amendment rights. The U.S. Supreme Court previously has held government must not meddle in church personnel decisions, the appellate judges noted.

Judge Raymond Fisher wrote for the 2-1 majority that the church's autonomy does not relieve it of its responsibility to protect employees from sexual harassment.

Because the church has the right to hire and fire people as it pleases, he said, Elvig cannot pursue a claim that the church retaliated by firing her. But she can pursue a claim that the harassment itself — and any verbal abuse she suffered from the pastor in retaliation for reporting him — caused her distress.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More local news headlines...