Church Property - Part 4

Key point 8-05. Congress has enacted a number of employment and civil rights laws regulating employers. These laws generally apply only to employers that are engaged in interstate commerce. This is because the legal basis for such laws is the constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. As a result, religious organizations that are not engaged in commerce generally are not subject to these laws. In addition, several of these laws require that an employer have a minimum number of employees. The courts have defined "commerce" very broadly, and so many churches will be deemed to be engaged in commerce.

Labor Laws

* A federal court in Tennessee concluded that a church was not engaged in commerce for purposes of a federal arson statute. This case will be relevant in deciding whether several federal employment laws can be applied to churches. A Tennessee church was ...