The San Francisco Zen Center is the largest Soto Zen Buddhist temple in North America. It was formed to “encourage the practice of Zen Buddhism by operating one or more religious practice facilities and educating the public about Zen Buddhism.”
The Center operates three residential programs that build on each other. First, an individual can be a “guest student” who lives at the temple for two to six weeks. Second, an individual can be a Work Practice Apprentice (WPA) for a two-to-three-year residency. Third, an individual who completes a Work Practice Apprenticeship can be staff at the temple as a continuation of Zen training.
WPAs follow a strict practice schedule of formal and work practice. Formal practice includes morning and evening meditations and services, soji (temple cleanings), dharma talks, classes, and a range of other events. Work practice includes things like cooking, dishwashing, cleaning, and doan ryo ceremonial tasks ‘which support the formal practice, such as ringing bells, cleaning altars, and watching the door during zazen meditations.
Alexander Behrend became involved with the Center in 2014 after he was in a car accident that left him with physical disabilities and PTSD. Following his car accident, Behrend was unable to remain in his prior employment and therefore unable to afford his apartment. In 2016, he spoke with the Center’s head of practice because he was given a one-month notice of losing his housing. He then applied and was accepted as a guest student in November 2016. In January 2017, he was accepted as a WPA, where he received room and board at the center and a small stipend.
Behrend was assigned to the maintenance crew in September 2018, but that work exacerbated his PTSD symptoms. Behrend sought accommodations, including moving off the maintenance crew, but eventually the Center “made a decision to end [his] participation in the Program.”
Behrend sued for disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the Northern District of California, and the Center moved for summary judgment on its affirmative defense under the First Amendment’s ministerial exception.
The district court granted the Center’s motion, determining that no party disputed that the Center is a religious organization and the undisputed facts established that Behrend fit within the ministerial exception. Behrend appealed, arguing that he was not a minister because he performed mostly menial work and did not have a “key role in making internal church decisions and transmitting the faith to others.”
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in the published case of Alexander Behrend V. San Francisco Zen Center, Inc. -23-15399 (July 2024).
The ministerial exception exempts a church’s employment relationship with its ‘ministers’ from the application of some employment statutes, even though the statutes by their literal terms would apply. The exception is grounded in both religion clauses of the First Amendment. The Establishment Clause prevents the Government from appointing ministers, and the Free Exercise Clause prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own.
The ministerial exception was recognized to preserve a church’s independent authority to select, supervise, and if necessary, remove a minister without interference by secular authorities.
Behrend argued on appeal that the exception only covers those with “key roles” in preaching and transmitting the faith to others. But precedent from the 9th Circuit and the Supreme Court evinces a much broader rule that covers positions like his.
There is no “rigid formula for deciding when an employee qualifies as a minister.”Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School. v. EEOC, 565 U.S. 171(2012) at 190. In Hosanna-Tabor, the Supreme Court of the United States considered whether the exception applied to a “called” teacher at a Lutheran school who was commissioned by the Church after completing a special religious teaching program, and who taught elementary school math, language arts, social studies, gym, art, music, and religion to her students. Id. at 178.
Even though only a small part of her day was spent actually teaching religion, the Court determined the exception applied, considering “all the circumstances of her employment.” The Court found relevant that she was given a formal title by the Church, that she held herself out as a minister, and that she received the title after “a formal process of commissioning.”
“Here, the ministerial exception protects the Center’s ability to determine who may serve in its WPA program. While Behrend argues that he was not a minister because, as a WPA, he performed mostly menial work, there is no genuine dispute that ‘[w]ork itself is an essential component of Zen training and is indistinguishable from other forms of practice.’ “
S.F. Zen Center Worker Meets ADA Discrimination Ministerial Exception
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