Chapman Discrimination Lawsuit Rejected by State Supreme Court

The state Supreme Court rejected a discrimination suit Wednesday by a chaplain at Chapman University, who said she was demoted for reporting sexual harassment of students by teachers.

The court unanimously denied review of a lower-court ruling that said religious employees aren’t protected by job discrimination laws. The ruling is binding on trial courts statewide.

The suit was filed by Shaunie Schmoll, former chaplain and director of campus ministry at Chapman in Orange. The university is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Schmoll, hired in 1991, was told in February 1994 that her hours were being cut in half for budgetary reasons. She contended the real reason was that she had told school administrators about allegations by students, during her nonreligious counseling sessions, that they had been sexually harassed by two male teachers.

Demoting or firing an employee who complains about a civil rights violation is normally forbidden by anti-retaliation provisions of California civil rights law. But the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled March 31 that the law did not apply to a church-affiliated institution in its dealings with a religious employee.

“It matters not whether such an employment decision is based on doctrine or economics,” said Presiding Justice David Sills in the 3-0 ruling upholding a judge’s dismissal of the suit.

Schmoll’s lawyer, Grace Emery, contended the court had stretched the school’s exemption from civil rights laws too far.

The university denied any discrimination but said through its lawyer, Ernest Klatte, that the ruling gave church-affiliated institutions “the freedom to exercise their 1st Amendment rights in the selection and retention of their religious leaders.”