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The Supreme Court ruled on Monday, Aug. 14 in favor of the Church of St. Theresa in Kenilworth, which fired Victoria Crisitello — a second grade art teacher — in 2014, after she told them she was pregnant out of wedlock.
The school said that Crisitello had violated her employment agreement and fired her. The agreement requires teachers to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the discipline, norms and teachings of the Catholic Church. Cristello was replaced by a married woman with children.
The case has made its way through the courts since Cristello filed a discrimination lawsuit soon after her employment was terminated. Two trial courts ruled in favor of St. Theresa's, though it was twice reversed by an appellate court. St. Theresa's had argued it did not fire Cristello for being pregnant but for engaging in sex outside of marriage.
In their ruling, the Supreme Court said Crisitello's termination was not an unlawful employment practice for a religious entity to follow the tents of faith in establish an employment agreement. The ruling alos said that St. Theresa's followed the religious tenants of the Catholic Church in terminating Crisitello.
All the other pregnant employees at St. Theresa were married, and the Archdiocese of Newark had fired a man for impregnating his partner out of wedlock, Justice Lee Solomon wrote in his opinion.
“We are pleased that the Supreme Court upheld the rights of religious employers to act consistent with their religious tenets, and that the Court found that St. Theresa School did so here," Peter Verniero, an attorney for the school, said. "Equally important, the Court found no evidence of discrimination in this case. This is a significant validation of St. Theresa School’s rights as a religious employer.”
It is unknown if Cristello plans on appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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