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Sacristan Gets Unemployment Comp Despite Firing For Opposing Parish Policy

By Howard M. Friedman

In Czajka v. Department of Employment Security, 2008 Ill. App. LEXIS 1205 (IL App., Dec. 5, 2008), an Illinois appellate court overturned the denial of unemployment compensation benefits to Carmen Czajka, a sacristan at the Saint Liborius School responsible for keeping the sacristy clean. She was fired because of her disagreement with a Parish program that would show school children a film, followed by discussions, concerning inappropriate physical contact. She had contacted parents warning them about the program and telling them that they could opt out of the video which Czajka believed "bordered on pornography." The court said: "there simply is no evidence demonstrating that [Czajka] engaged in the conduct with an awareness of any rule or policy forbidding her from expressing her views to parishioners." It also concluded that her actions did not cause harm to the parish. Finding these grounds on which to overturn the denial of benefits to Czajka, the court said it need not decide her First Amendment challenge to the denial of benefits.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on December 10, 2008 (boomark / email).