Schoolteacher Properly Fired For Premarital Sex

The New Jersey Supreme Court has held that the firing of an art teacher and toddler room caregiver was proper for engaging in premarital sex as evidenced by her pregnancy.

Summary judgment was properly granted to the Catholic elementary school that had terminated her

The religious tenets exception allowed St. Theresa’s to require its employees, as a condition of employment, to abide by Catholic law, including that they abstain from premarital sex. 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 record evidence demonstrates that St. Theresa’s consistently maintained its position that Crisitello was terminated for violating Catholic law by engaging in premarital sex. And Crisitello has presented no evidence to counter St. Theresa’s asserted position. The Court rejects the Appellate Division’s novel suggestion that Crisitello’s firing was evidence of pretext simply because St. Theresa’s did not “survey” its employees to discover other transgressions of the faith. Neither the LAD nor case law requires such an investigation, and the Court declines to impose this burden. Here, because Crisitello offers no evidence that the reason given for her termination was false, there exists no dispute of material fact and St. Theresa’s is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The religious tenets exception of the LAD precludes recovery here. The Court does not reach the constitutional questions presented.

The quote comes from the headnote.

The court reversed the holding of the Appellate Division, which had reversed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment.

If you have a problem with the link, the case is Victoria Crisitello v. St. Theresa School (A-63-20) (085213) 

(Mike Frisch)