TonioTimeDaily

"Religious investors can advance disability inclusion by encouraging their portfolio companies to embrace best practices for employing people with disabilities. To start, they can encourage companies to utilize a third-party benchmarking tool such as the Disability Equality Index (DEI) to assess their disability inclusion practices. Religious investors can sign the Joint Investor Statement on Corporate Disability Inclusion, an effort led by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read. Meanwhile, religious investors can work to advance disability inclusion within their own institutions.

Religious entities with 15 or more employees are covered by Title I of the ADA and may not discriminate against qualified applicants and employees with disabilities. A religious entity may, however, give preference to individuals of its own religion and may require that all applicants and employees follow the entity’s religious rules.

Additionally, members of the clergy and other employees who perform essentially religious duties, such as conducting religious ritual, worship or instruction, are generally excluded from the protections of the ADA and other employment discrimination laws.

This “ministerial exception,” which only applies to employees who perform ministerial functions, limits government interference with the free exercise of religion and is well established by the courts.

“Religious employers can go beyond what the law allows to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities.”

That said, just because the law grants religious entities an exception doesn’t mean they must take advantage of it. Religious employers can go beyond what the law allows to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities, including positions of leadership and ministerial roles."

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