NJ Supreme Court Rules for School That Fired Teacher Over Premarital Sex

A judge's gavel rests on top of a desk in a file photo. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Monday in favor of a Catholic school that fired a teacher who had premarital sex.

Victoria Crisitello sued her employer almost a decade ago when she was fired after, as an unmarried art teacher and toddler room caregiver, she told the school principal she was pregnant in a meeting during which they discussed a promotion. She alleged discrimination in the firing.

The Church of St. Theresa school in New Jersey, as a Roman Catholic elementary school operating within the Archdiocese of Newark, requires its employees to abide by Catholic teachings.

Ms. Crisitello had gone to the school as a student herself. When she was hired in 2011, she signed a form acknowledging and agreeing to abide by the Archdiocesan Code of Ethics and Polices on Professional and Ministerial Conduct adopted by the Archdiocese of Newark.

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination includes a “religious tenets” exception, where it “shall not be an unlawful employment practice” for religious entities to follow their tenets in their employment criteria.

Initially, a trial court ruled in favor of the school, and an appellate court reversed the decision in favor of Ms. Crisitello as she did not perform “religious duties.” The case was heard by the New Jersey Supreme Court in April, which on Monday upheld the school’s decision.

“The uncontroverted fact is that St. Theresa’s followed the religious tenets of the Catholic Church in terminating Crisitello,” wrote Justice Lee Solomon in the court’s opinion (pdf).

“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,” said Peter Verniero, a former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice who represented the school. “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.”

Thomas McKinney, the attorney for Ms. Crisitello, said, “Of course we are disappointed with the decision because it did not go our way ... We don’t think that going forward a pregnant woman will be treated equally based on these policies of the employment. We would have liked to see this reminded in court but we understand the decision of the Supreme Court justice and we accept it.”

Reason for Termination

The decisions of the courts hinged upon the question of whether the school really fired Ms. Crisitello for having premarital sex—a violation of their faith—or whether it had additional reasons, and merely used this as a pretext.

Weeks after Ms. Crisitello told the school principal, Sister Lee, that she was pregnant, the principal met with her and said she had violated the Code of Ethics by engaging in premarital sex, and offered her the options of resignation or termination. Ms. Crisitello’s replacement was a married woman with children.

Ms. Crisitello took her complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to which the school made clear Ms. Crisitello was not terminated due to her pregnancy, but because she had engaged in premarital sex, “not following the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith by engaging in sex outside of marriage.”

The commission said it could not conclude the school violated the Civil Rights Act, but its decision wasn’t a finding of compliance with the Civil Rights Act, and Ms. Crisitello could still bring the case to court.

She filed a complaint in the New Jersey Superior Court alleging employment discrimination on the basis of her pregnancy and marital status, and alleged the violation of tenets was “mere pretext.”

The court gathered information from the school regarding pregnant employees, with a confidentiality order, and ruled in the school’s favor.

The court found St. Theresa’s had supported its married teachers who became pregnant, and that other Catholic schools have terminated contracts with unmarried employees who become pregnant or were discovered to have fathered children. It could not find evidence that Ms. Crisitello’s termination had to do with “her pregnancy or martial status, per se.” It denied Ms. Crisitello’s request that the school survey all employees to discover whether they had “committed transgressions of their faith.”

Ms. Crisitello appealed the decision, and the appellate court reversed the decision and remanded addition discovery in the trial court, to make sure St. Theresa’s was treating other employees found to have violated the Code of Ethics similarly, in order for the decision to not have been pretextual.

By 2019, the court had heard the additional arguments, and found “the record is bare of any evidence that even remotely suggests that [Crisitello’s pregnancy out of wedlock] is not the real reason for her termination,” and found no inconsistencies in the school’s treatments of other employees violating the Code of Ethics.

She appealed again, and the appellate court ruled in her favor, noting that employers cannot rely on mere observation to identify instances of premarital sex, that the school’s rules do not outright state that premarital sex will result in termination, and that the plaintiff was not in a role conducting “vital religious duties.” It noted that Ms. Crisitello was aware that having permarital sex was in violation of the school’s religious tenets, however.

The New Jersey Supreme Court reversed the appellate decision, finding no evidence that the school fired the teacher with discrimination.