Salvation Army Sued Over Employee Policies

In what experts are calling the first legal challenge to the Bush administration’s plan to direct government money to religious groups, the New York Civil Liberties Union last week sued the Salvation Army, saying the charity illegally discriminates against its employees based on their religious affiliation while accepting federal money for its programs.

“If we prevail, it would mean that the Bush administration’s efforts to permit religious discrimination in government-funded social-service programs would fail,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The affiliate sued in federal court on behalf of 18 current and former Salvation Army employees who, the lawsuit says, fear or feared losing their jobs if they did not reveal their religious affiliations.

Through a spokesman, the Salvation Army, an evangelical Christian organization, denied discriminating against its workers, and said it has always asked about the religious affiliation of prospective employees as part of its background checks on those who work with children.

The lawsuit says that the Salvation Army receives more than $50-million in government money every year to help pay for programs that serve about 2,300 children daily across the country.

And, the lawsuit alleges, the Salvation Army recently began requiring all its employees to adhere to its religious mission by signing a form that says they must “preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” The form also asks employees to identify all churches they have attended in the past decade, and to authorize their religious leaders to reveal information from private communications, the lawsuit says.

The Salvation Army denies requiring its employees to preach the Gospel, says Major Gary W. Miller, an Army spokesman who represents its New York territory. “We are not discriminatory,” he said. “We have many employees who are Jewish, Muslim — you name the faith — who work happily for us.” However, Major Miller said, the Salvation Army does require applicants and employees to fill out a form that asks for information on church affiliation and that seeks an acknowledgment that the Army is a branch of the Christian church. “If you don’t sign the form,” he said, “you decide you don’t want to work here.”