Kristen Biel v. St. James School

Summary

The Ninth Circuit panel held that the ministerial exception under the First Amendment did not bar an Americans with Disabilities Act claim by a fifth-grade teacher at a Catholic school, because she lacked a formal religious title, religious training, or holding out as a minister, despite teaching religion and performing religious functions. The en banc court denied rehearing, with a dissent arguing that the panel’s narrow, four-factor resemblance test from *Hosanna-Tabor* improperly minimized the employee’s religious function and split from other circuits that focus primarily on function. The case addresses the scope of the ministerial exception for teachers in religious schools, emphasizing that function alone may be insufficient without additional indicia of ministerial status.