Ehrenkranz

facts strikingly similar to those present here, in an appeal arising in the same setting as here, which raised the identical issues presented here, and involved the same arguments Ehrenkranz makes here. That case is Lorenzo v. San Francisco Zen Center et al. (Nov. 21, 2025, A171659) 116 Cal.App.5th 258, review granted February 11, 2026, S294565 (Lorenzo), and in it Division Five ruled for Lorenzo all the way. Thereafter, our Supreme Court granted review of the ministerial exception issue.2 Pending guidance from the Supreme Court, we agree with the reasoning of Lorenzo as to the Religion Clauses analysis and adopt the same conclusions here, and thus hold that the trial court erred in finding that the ministerial exception barred Ehrenkranz’s wage-and-hour claims because defendants presented no evidence that his claims raised an ecclesiastical concern. We therefore reverse the summary judgment. But we part company with our colleagues on the second issue and

The question currently pending review is: “Does the ministerial exception arising under the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution categorically preclude wage and hour claims by a…