When Church Employees Get Laid Off

Irvine v. St. John's Lutheran Church of Mound, 779 N.W.2d 101 (Minn. App. 2010)

A church in Minnesota employed a woman as its business administrator for two years. The church's employment handbook indicated that the church paid unemployment taxes and implied that its employees would receive unemployment benefits if they lost their jobs. The administrator's employment ended through no fault of her own and she applied for unemployment benefits and attempted to establish a benefit account, but was notified by the state Department of Employment and Economic Development (the "Department") that employment with a church could not be used to establish a benefit account. She appealed to the civil courts.

Under state law, the Department pays unemployment benefits to an applicant who meets certain requirements. First, the applicant must file an application for unemployment benefits ...