Saint Leo University is a private non-profit university in Saint Leo, Florida. Benedictine monks established the University in 1889. The Saint Leo Benedictine Abbey includes a monastery church, and the monks’ residences and offices are located near the middle of campus. The Benedictine Sisters’ residences are located just off campus. There is a student chapel, and religious statues and crosses throughout campus. The mission references Benedictine values and the University’s website contains repeated references to the University’s identity as Catholic/Benedictine.
In May 1976, the University’s union was certified as the exclusive collective-bargaining unit of all full-time faculty members employed at the university campus.
On October 23, 2020, the Board passed a resolution immediately withdrawing the union, creating a shared governance model, and replacing the existing University senate with a new faculty senate. In creating the new faculty senate, the University bypassed the union and dealt directly with unit employees by soliciting faculty input for the faculty handbook. These handbook changes modified the terms and conditions of employment for faculty.
The union filed suit against the University due to the University withdrawing recognition of the union and changing the terms and conditions of employment without the union’s consent in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The University argued that it was privileged to do so because it is a religious institution exempt from the NLRA’s provisions under the case, Bethany College, 369 NLRB No. 98 (2020).
In the Bethany College case, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) held that under the NLRA, the Board did not have jurisdiction over the faculty of an educational institution if the institution: (a) holds itself out to the public as a religious institution; (b) is a nonprofit; and (c) is religiously affiliated.
The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) applied the Bethany College standard, found that Saint Leo was a religious institution, exempt from the NLRA, and dismissed the complaint. On appeal, the Board reviewed the ALJ’s decision.
The Board concluded that Saint Leo University holds itself out as a religious institution, meeting the first prong of the test. The Board considered the University’s Catholic identity statement, which appears on its public website, and which describes the University as being a religious institution of higher learning in present-day terms. The University’s mission statement, which appears in the collective bargaining agreement, states that the University is a “Catholic, liberal-arts-based university serving people of all faiths” that is “rooted in the 1,500-year-old Benedictine tradition.” The public website describes the numerous opportunities on campus for “faith and spirituality in action,” including ministry programs, a religious student choir and band, a pro-life group, Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, and peer ministry.
The Board also considered that the numerous Catholic religious services and projects that take place on campus, and in which students are encouraged to participate, further supported that the University holds itself out as a religious institution. For example, the sacrament of confession is scheduled twice a week and by appointment, class schedules are modified for religious occasions, and religious observances occur throughout the University’s campus.
The Board was not persuaded by the General Counsel’s argument that the University’s religious messaging is thin, that it buries its Catholic affiliation in some places to market itself to potential students, and that the University has falsely identified itself as religious merely to obtain exemption from the NLRA. The Board reasoned that even though the University predominantly promotes secular components of its religious educational environment, its religious messaging is still substantial. The Board noted that the test was not about measuring the University’s religious nature in comparison to its secular nature, and it was not going to question the sincerity of the University’s representations regarding its religious character.
The Board likewise affirmed the Judge that the University is organized as a 501(c)(3), meeting the second prong of the test.
The Board noted that for the third prong, religious ownership, operation, and control are not required—the test may be met based on affiliation alone. Here, the University is affiliated with the Benedictine monks, Saint Leo’s Abbey, and Holy Name Monastery, as well as the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities, meeting the third prong of the test.
The Board upheld the Judge’s decision and dismissed the complaint in its entirety.
Saint Leo University Inc., 373 NLRB No. 121.
Note: LCW covered this case . In the lower decision, the Administrative Law Judge allowed the NLRB General Counsel to develop a full record during the hearing, arguing that the Board should abandon the Bethany College framework and return to a prior standard when considering whether the Board has jurisdiction over religious institutions. The Board declined to do so and affirmed the current standard for religious institutions, in the process providing helpful guidance for the types of factors the Board will look to when making this determination.