Injunction Granted in Catholic Employers’ Lawsuit Against Anti-Harassment Guidelines

A North Dakota judge approved a motion to temporarily halt the enforcement of federal anti-discrimination regulations as part of an on-going lawsuit launched by the Diocese of Bismarck and the Catholic Benefits Association (CBA) against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), per Inforum.

Earlier this spring, the Commission updated its guidelines on workplace harassment to include correct pronoun usage, bathroom access, and medical coverage for gender-affirming care as mandatory protections for transgender employees. The Commission published its rule of implementation for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, signed into law by President Biden in 2022, requiring protections for employees seeking abortions and fertility treatments.

The Diocese of Bismarck and the CBA filed a complaint in the summer, alleging that the their rights as religious organizations were violated by the new workplace harassment guidelines, and argued that the religious employer should be exempt. Charlotte Burrows, director of the EEOC, responded to the complaint restating that religious exemptions for employers are still protected by Title VII and are considered on a case-by-case basis. Burrows also stated that the diocese had no grounds for exemption as it was reacting to “speculative scenarios” and could not demonstrate “harm or confusion resulting from the rules,” Inforum reported.

As for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act implementation rule, the plaintiffs said that the EEOC’s requirements concerning abortions and fertility treatments far exceed the original intent of the legislation and thus violate federal statute. These mandates are alleged to violate the plaintiff’s religious freedom as well.

Judge Daniel Traynor, the U.S. district judge who approved the motion, is a 2020 Trump appointee and a former board member of the North Dakota Catholic Conference. In his ruling, Traynor agreed with the plaintiffs that the EEOC regulations force religious employers to either abandon their beliefs or face penalties, positioning the issue squarely as one of religious freedom.

“One would think after all this litigation, the government would respect the boundaries of religious freedom,” Traynor wrote. “Instead, it seems the goal may be to find new ways to infringe on religious believers’ fundamental rights to the exercise of their religions.”

Referring specifically to the transgender provisions, Traynor added that the government is not constitutionally empowered to “act as language police,” and asserted the First Amendment’s important role in establishing a “safe zone for believers to speak and think without fear that the government will question them for ‘misgendering’ a person and stating their beliefs.”

The CBA, a company that “advocates for and litigates in defense of” their member employers, which include 87 Catholic dioceses, features a large banner on the homepage of their website advertising Traynor’s grant of their preliminary injunction. The copy reads “CBA wins injunctive relief against the EEOC for its present and future members” and contains a button linking to a PDF of Traynor’s ruling.

As a result of the judge’s decision, neither the Diocese of Bismarck nor any of the CBA’s member entities will be obligated to pay the federal fines for their non-compliance with the EEOC’s guidelines until the litigation is resolved.

—Jeromiah Taylor (he/him), October 31, 2024