Dozens of faith-based providers targeted in pension lawsuits

Ministry organizations among defendants

By JULIE MINDA

Much is at stake if plaintiffs prevail in a spate of lawsuits that class action law firms have filed over the past several years against faith-based health care providers, according to attorneys for CHA. The suits claim the providers are not "churches" and thus should not be allowed a church-based exemption from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

CHA in-house and outside counsel told Catholic Health World if the plaintiffs prevail, faith-based providers may be subject to a costly revamp of their employee pension plans and they also may lose ground in their ongoing struggle to maintain their religious exemption in other legal matters.

Mark E. Chopko is CHA's counsel of record in an amicus brief CHA filed Aug. 15 in support of petitions to the Supreme Court to hear appeals in two church plan suits. The cases involve Advocate Health Care Network of the Chicago area and Saint Peter's Healthcare System of New Brunswick, N.J. The systems are asking the Supreme Court to overturn rulings by two federal courts of appeals that their respective plans are not church plans and are thus not exempt from ERISA regulations.

Chopko said the position of the challengers bringing the suits is "that no religious exemption is permissible. None."

Chopko said the plaintiffs' challenges get at the heart of the question: What is "the church?"
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Presence-sponsored training spreads the word about mental health issues

By NANCY FRAZIER O'BRIEN

Sandra C. Candelaria remembers the moment when she became convinced of the importance of training in mental health issues through the Mental Health First Aid program.

Now a program coordinator at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, Candelaria was working for another agency a year and a half ago when a woman receiving counseling for a substance abuse problem mentioned that she was considering taking her own life.
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