New Jersey Supreme Court Rules Catholic School Had Right to Fire Teacher for Having Premarital Sex

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a Catholic school was entitled to fire in exercise of its religious tenets an employee who had premarital sex.

In 2014, recently hired teacher Victoria Crisitello sued, alleging that St. Theresa Roman Catholic elementary school engaged in employment discrimination after it fired her for becoming pregnant while unmarried. The school applies the official “Archdiocese of Newark Policies on Professional and Ministerial Conduct,” containing a code of ethics which requires employees to “conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with the discipline, norms[,] and teachings of the Catholic Church.”

When Cristello was first brought onto staff part-time as a caregiver in 2011, she signed an acknowledgement of her receipt and understanding of the conduct policy, the majority opinion from Monday notes.

The forms stated that, “My signature below indicates that I have received a copy of the Policies on Professional and Ministerial Conduct adopted by the Archdiocese of Newark; and that I have read and understand those Policies, including the Archdiocesan Code of Ethics, and agree to abide by all of the Policies and the Code of Ethics.”

In 2014, Sister Lee, the school principal, offered Cristello the opportunity to teach art full time. During their meeting, Crisitello stated that she was pregnant. A few weeks later, Sister Lee told Crisitello that she had violated the Code of Ethics by engaging in premarital sex and thus could not remain on St. Theresa’s staff.

A trial court first sided with St. Theresa’s, finding that Cristello was not terminated for her pregnancy or martial status, per se, but for violating the school’s conduct policy. Following Cristello’s appeal citing the First Amendment, an appellate court reversed that decision, ruling that the code did not expressly prohibit premarital sex as a condition of employment at the school. Cristello had conceded that she knew premarital sex violated the tenets of the Catholic Church, the judge’s order states.

On Monday, Judge Solomon wrote the majority opinion that “it is uncontroverted” that St. Theresa’s was right to adhere to religious tenets of the Catholic Church. Its firing action fell under the exception of New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination that “it shall not be an unlawful employment practice” for a religious entity to follow the tenets of its faith “in establishing and utilizing criteria for employment.” St. Theresa’s used this as an appropriate affirmative defense, he said.

“Because the Legislature thus expressly prescribed an exception to liability under the LAD based on a religious institution’s reliance on the tenets of its faith in setting employment criteria, we agree with St. Theresa’s that the religious tenets exception is an affirmative defense which must be pled and proven, and the party asserting it carries both the burden of production and persuasion,” he wrote.

Crisitello, a practicing Catholic and graduate of the St. Theresa School, was well aware that working at St. Theresa’s required adherence to Catholic doctrine, which she knowingly violated, Solomon added. St. Theresa’s remained consistent throughout litigation that she was fired for this reason, and Cristello offered no evidence to contradict this position, he said.

A similar case went through the courts in 2022, when a federal court in Indiana ruled in favor of a Catholic private school that fired a teacher who had entered into a same-sex union in violation of her contract with the institution.