Catholic Relief Services ordered to pay $60,000 to gay ex-employee after denying benefits for husband

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Catholic Relief Services, the Baltimore-based humanitarian nonprofit, was ordered to pay $60,000 to a gay former employee after it took health coverage away from the employee’s husband.

U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ruled April 21 that CRS violated the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act in withdrawing those benefits, writing that the organization did not merit a religious exemption to the nondiscrimination law.

“I truly hope that CRS will see this ruling as an opportunity to promote the human dignity of employees in same-sex marriages by providing them the same opportunities and benefits granted to their straight counterparts,” John Doe said in a statement published by Brown, Goldstein & Levy, which represented him with co-counsel from Gilbert Employment Law.

A spokesperson for CRS declined to comment, saying the organization was reviewing the ruling.

The opinion was the second victory in the case for Doe, who worked at CRS from 2016 to 2024 in data analysis and middle-management roles and sued in 2020. Judge Catherine Blake in 2022 found CRS violated federal laws against sex discrimination, but referred questions about the scope and applicability of the Fair Employment Practices Act to the Maryland Supreme Court.

The state’s high court ruled in 2023 that the law allowed religious organizations to discriminate against LGBTQ employees whose jobs “directly further (their) core mission.”

The decision prompted further litigation over the details of Doe’s positions at CRS, including a three-day trial in October. According to Brown, Goldstein & Levy, the ruling is the first to apply the Maryland Supreme Court’s “core mission” test of the religious exemption to the law.

“Doe did not directly serve the poor and vulnerable overseas, solicit or secure funding for projects, or possess authority to determine how CRS would pursue its mission through its programs,” Rubin wrote. “Nor did Doe manage or supervise any employee with such responsibilities.”

The size of CRS — which has more than 8,000 employees around the world — contributed to the decision, Rubin wrote.

CRS argued before the state Supreme Court that “the exemption unambiguously exempts all claims for religious, sexual orientation, and gender identity discrimination against religious entities, because all work of every employee is ‘connected with’ the ‘activities’ of their employer.”