Pittsburgh, USA - Geneva College claims in a federal lawsuit that anti-discrimination laws violate its right to freedom of religion.
The lawsuit against both the Pennsylvania and U.S. departments of labor stems from the Beaver Falls college's attempt to post job openings limited to Christian candidates on the state's CareerLink Web site. The federal government provides millions of dollars in funding for CareerLink, which allows employers to list jobs open to the public, so the program must comply with the federal nondiscrimination clause.
Geneva, which is described as a "Christian college rooted in the evangelical and reformed traditions," was denied permission to post openings that limit the applicant pool to members of one religion, according to the lawsuit. The college was told by the state Department of Labor and Industry, which runs CareerLink, that such listings would violate nondiscrimination laws.
Geneva claims, however, that an exemption afforded to religious organizations that allows them to hire and fire based on religion, also protects them from being discriminated against by the state.
"What we're seeking here is to level the playing field," said Timothy J. Tracey, an attorney with the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law & Religious Freedom, which with the Alliance Defense Fund filed the lawsuit on Geneva's behalf. "All sorts of employers are able to hire the best-qualified person."
The government is impeding Geneva's First Amendment right to religious freedom by barring advertisements from the school, he argued.
As of yesterday afternoon, the state had still not been served with the lawsuit, and a press officer was unable to comment on the issue.
But Sara Rose, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said the state cannot allow Geneva to advertise with regard to religion because that would be providing a benefit to the school that no other organization gets. The school would be getting preferential treatment, she said.
The ACLU is not involved in the Geneva lawsuit, but Ms. Rose said she believes the state has an important interest in preventing discrimination.
"They're basically putting the state between a rock and a hard place," she said. "For Geneva College to say it needed to advertise for a position on a state-funded Web site in order to practice its religion is far-fetched."
But Mr. Tracey disagrees.
"I don't think it's providing a benefit to them any different than to other employers," he said.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, claims the action violates the school's rights to freedom of expressive association and of speech; church autonomy doctrine; free exercise clause; equal protection clause and religious freedom restoration act.
It asks the judge to declare the nondiscrimination clause of the U.S. Workforce Investment Act unconstitutional, and for a preliminary and permanent injunction that stops the defendants from enforcing it.
The only way the school has been allowed to advertise on the CareerLink Web site is by posting a nonrestricted job.
Robert S. Barker, a constitutional law professor at Duquesne University School of Law, recognizes that the benefit Geneva College claims it's being denied is a small one, but he said, it's the principle at stake.
"If we have religious freedom in this society, then a religiously affiliated institution ought to be able to maintain the integrity of its institution without the government interfering," Mr. Barker said. "Government has become a force hostile to religion and religiously affiliated institutions.
"The government's position ought to be: 'If you want to be a religious institution, you're free to do that. That's your business, not ours.'"