Church Sued for Wrongful Dismissal
Monday October 9, 2006
Terry Hornbuckle was a pastor at Agape Christian Fellowship until he was convicted of sexual harassment. Lisa Fuller, a former church employee who worked as an executive assistant to Hornbuckle's wife, alleges that she was ordered to lie in court about what Hornbuckle did. When she refused, she claims that she was fired and now she has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit.
Lisa Fuller alleges she was sexually harassed by Hornbuckle, the pastor, and wrongfully terminated.
Fuller, who was hired as an executive assistant by Hornbuckle's wife in July 2000, says in the lawsuit that she was fired because she would not lie to a Tarrant County grand jury.
Hornbuckle instructed Fuller to tell members of the grand jury that rumors of him sleeping with women other than his wife, using drugs and misappropriating funds were started by disgruntled employees, according to the lawsuit.
Source: Star-Telegram
Churches are usually exempt from most anti-discrimination laws on the theory that their religious nature should allow them greater freedom in deciding whom to hire and whom to fire. If Lisa Fuller were a pagan, it's likely that the church would be able to fire her because of her religion without having to worry about breaking any laws. Should churches always be exempt from anti-discrimination laws in all cases, though? Should churches be allowed to legally fire employees as a form of retaliation when those employees refuse to do something illegal or even just unethical?
Separation of Church & State:
Comments
See In God’s Name, a four-part series in the New York Times, for a look at just how little protection employees of religious organizations have against arbitrary termination and other abuses. More and more lawyers are refusing to take such cases on behalf of the employee, because they know they have little chance of winning.
See also ‘Guys, I’m going through something here’ for a real eye-opener about a Focus on the Family(!) employee’s firing in the aftermath of her daughter’s rape and murder. The woman is now living in a 20-foot RV. At the time of her termination, she had two teenage sons living at home. So much for “family values”……….
Honestly, these creeps give us Christians a really bad name by checking their brains and their compassion at the door like that. Is it any wonder that I’d much rather hang out with atheists and agnostics?
Sorry, folks, it looks like I’m HTML-impaired today. I’ll try again for that second link:
‘Guys, I’m going through something here’
BTW, this article appeared in the Colorado Springs (CO) Independent — FOF’s hometown paper!