A Catholic charitable organisation in Wisconsin has argued to the US Supreme Court that the denial of its religious exemption status by the State of Wisconsin is based on an “absurd view” that the charity’s work isn’t religious in nature.
The Catholic charity also claims that the defendant in the case – Wisconsin – has committed multiple violations of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment by denying its religious-based exemption and thereby insisting that it must pay state-related fees.
In the legal case of Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission, the Catholic Charities Bureau branch of the Diocese of Superior is fighting a State Supreme Court ruling from March 2024 that the organisation’s activities aren’t primarily religious, thereby denying it an exemption from paying into the State’s unemployment compensation program, and preventing it from joining the Wisconsin Bishops’ own unemployment compensation program.
