Behrend
Behrend v. San Francisco Zen Center, Inc.
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 ALEXANDER BEHREND, Case No. 21-cv-01905-JSC
Plaintiff,
ORDER RE: DEFENDANT’S MOTION
v. FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
SAN FRANCISCO ZEN CENTER, INC., et Re: Dkt. No. 63 al., 11 Defendants.
12 Alexander Behrend sues his former employer, the San Francisco Zen Center, for discrimination on the basis of his disabilities. Before the Court is SF Zen Center’s motion for summary judgment on its affirmative defense, the ministerial exception. (Dkt. No. 63.) Having carefully considered the briefing, and with the benefit of oral argument on February 2, 2023, the Court GRANTS the motion. SF Zen Center has established as a matter of undisputed fact that Mr. Behrend’s work was part of a religious practice program and implicates the organization’s “power to decide for [itself], free from state interference, matters of church government[,] . . . faith and doctrine.” Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & Sch. v. E.E.O.C., 565 U.S. 171, 186 (2012)…