In a split decision, this case holds that a fifth-grade teacher at a Catholic school is not a minister and so can sue the school for violating the ADA by firing her after it learned she was diagnosed with cancer. Under Hossana-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC (2012) 132 S.Ct. 694, the court applies a totality of the circumstances test to determine ministerial status. Here, the Catholic church and the school did not hold the teacher out as a minister. She had also received no training in religion or as a minister and the school had no religious requirements for the position she held. While the teacher taught a standard half-hour religion course each day and joined in daily prayers and monthly Mass led by others, she otherwise had no religious duties.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Friedland, J.; Fisher, J., dissenting); December 17, 2018; 911 F.3d 603