New Jersey Supreme Court rules that Catholic school can fire teacher for being pregnant and unmarried

The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a Catholic school that fired an art teacher after she became pregnant while not married.

The case has spanned nearly a decade. Saint Theresa School, a Roman Catholic elementary school located in Kenilworth, New Jersey, hired Victoria Crisitello, a former student of the school, in 2011. Upon joining the school, Ms Crisitello signed a document acknowledging that she understood the Code of Ethics, which states that staff should “conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with the discipline, norms[,] and teachings of the Catholic Church”.

When the principal approached Ms Crisitello about working full time, she said she was pregnant. Weeks later, she was terminated from her position for violating the Code of Ethics by having premarital sex.

The art teacher then filed a complaint claiming discrimination based on pregnancy and marital status. But the trial court came down in favour of the school. The Law Against Discrimination “clearly protects a religious institution . . . in requiring that an employee . . . abide by the principles of the Catholic faith,” the trial court wrote.

The appellate court reversed the decision.

After one more back and forth between the trial and appellate courts, the New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday argued that the school complied with the “religious tenets” exception of the state statutes, which allows for a religious entity to follow the tenets of its faith “in establishing and utilizing criteria for employment”, the court wrote.

Ms Crisitello, “a practicing Catholic and graduate of the St. Theresa School, acknowledged that St. Theresa’s required her to abide by the tenets of the Catholic faith, including that she abstain from premarital sex, as a condition of her employment”, the court said.

“We’re disappointed with the decision,” Ms Crisitello’s lawyer Tom McKinney told The Independent, adding that after nearly 10 years of fighting, “it’s the end of the road” for this case.

In the wake of the decision, the Office of the Attorney General expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling, telling CNN: “We are disappointed with today’s decision, but we are grateful that its narrow scope will not impact the important protections the Law Against Discrimination provides for the overwhelming majority of New Jerseyans.”

The ACLU of New Jersey’s Director of Supreme Court Advocacy, Alexander Shalom, felt similarly about the ruling, telling the broadcaster: “While we recognize that the United States Supreme Court’s prior decisions provide broad latitude to religious employers regarding hiring and firing, we believe the NJ Supreme Court could have, and should have, held that a second grade art teacher was entitled to the protections of the Law Against Discrimination.”