FFRF warns of far-reaching consequences after Supreme Court agrees to hear Catholic Charities case

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is sounding the alarm over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case that could exempt a religiously affiliated nonprofit from unemployment insurance.

The Supreme Court on Dec. 13 agreed to hear the Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission case. FFRF, a national state/church watchdog, had filed a friend-of-the-court brief before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which agreed with FFRF’s position that the Catholic Charities Bureau and its subsidiaries were not exempt from unemployment taxes.

The Catholic group — based out of Superior, Wis. — seeks to have several subsidiary nonprofits exempt from Wisconsin’s unemployment tax, claiming they should not pay unemployment tax, whether or not they provide religious services, because their work is religiously motivated. Yet the charities’ purposes are not to espouse the Catholic faith, staff don’t participate in religious services with clients, and some of the organizations don’t mention faith in their statements. And they don’t serve only Catholics.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul urged the high court to stay out of the case because there was no authority split, also noting that the groups receive much of their funding from the public.

FFRF’s friend-of-the-court brief urged the Wisconsin Supreme Court to keep the rights of workers in mind, such as countless Catholic hospital workers who could become ineligible to claim unemployment, even though their jobs have no religious functions.

“The special exemption that the Catholic Charities Bureau is seeking would naturally extend to countless other nonprofits,” explains FFRF Senior Counsel Sam Grover. “Thousands of nonreligious employees at hospitals, colleges and other organizations could lose their unemployment coverage if the Supreme Court overturns the decision.”

Adds FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor: “The high court’s decision to take this case is alarming, and reveals its activist agenda. We’re witnessing an aggressive push by religious organizations to obtain special privileges that threaten to undermine the rights and freedoms of others, particularly vulnerable populations.”

FFRF plans on filing a friend-of-the-court brief before the Supreme Court.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 40,000 members and several chapters across the country. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism. 

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.