Definition of “Employer” in the Maine Human Rights Act Excludes Individual Supervisor Liability: Fuhrmann v. Staples Office Superstore

On December 11, 2012, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, in a 4-3 opinion, held that there is no individual supervisor liability for employment discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA).  Justice Silver wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice Saufley and Justices Alexander and Jabar.  This was a much-anticipated opinion, coming over twelve years after the court’s opinion in Gordan v. Cummings, 2000 ME 68, ¶¶ 10 – 11, 756 A.2d 942, where the court initially held that the MHRA applied to individual supervisors, but later withdrew the opinion and in the final published opinion did not reach the question of individual supervisor liability.

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High Court Finds "Ministerial" Exception To Federal, State, and Local Discrimination Laws

Yesterday the Supreme Court issued an opinion in a closely watched case soundly and unanimously confirming, for the first time, the existence of a “ministerial” exception to federal, state and local discrimination laws.  While the “ministerial” exception had been applied by various circuit courts in the past, Hosanna-Tabor is the Supreme Court’s first consideration of the question of whether a religious organization’s freedom to select its ministers is implicated by a suit alleging discrimination in employment.  The Court answered with a resounding yes.  

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