Analysis of President of the Methodist Conference vs Parfitt - Case Study Example

The infamous "President of the Methodist Conference v Parfitt [1984] ICR 176," was inspired as a result of a desperate bid to establish if indeed there is a Contract of Employment that involved the Methodist Church and the Applicant. It was established during the hearings by a majority decision of the Industrial Tribunal that the specific arrangement that existed between the church and the minister of the gospel also in the church is clearly stated in the church's rule book, which does not exclude the extent to which any minister under these stated provisions is subject to. Consequently, in this particular case the minister is deemed an employee of the church and therefore the church was the undisputed employer under what they described as the contract of service. Meanwhile, when an appeal of the earlier ruling was laid before the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal in presenting its ruling upheld that a tentative appraisal of the complex non-legal relationship that existed between the Methodist Church and the minister, was proof of reasonable evidence that with regards to the posting of the minister as part of ministerial responsibilities and are reasonably entailed in the entire package of ministerial service do not in any way amount to contractual agreement and should therefore be viewed as such. To this end, Dillon L.J was quoted as saying: I have no hesitation in concluding that the relationship between a church and a minister of religion is not apt, in the absence of clear indications of a contrary intention in the document, to be regulated by a contract of service. I do not doubt that there probably are binding contracts between the Methodist Church and its ministers in relation to some ancillary matters, such as the compulsory superannuation scheme and the obligation, of which Mr. Parfitt told us, on trainees to repay a proportion of the expense of their training if they do not remain in the ministry for at least 10 years. These however are no part of the contract of service, either on reception into full connection or on appointment to a circuit, which Mr. Parfitt seeks to set up. Page 183H. It is therefore in the light of the foregoing that the central focus of this paper is to conduct an exhaustive analysis of all the contending issues that have risen with the dawn of this case. The paper will be using theological and legal references to buttress points where they are essentially relevant for serving the purpose of the thematic framework of the essay. It should also be noted that whilst, the essay is cautious not to engage in too many technicalities that are perhaps beyond the scope of this essay, much of the theological and legal references will be made intermittently and in some instances it will be done concurrently in order to reduce verbosity and enhance simplicity for the comfort of the reader. According to the Employment Relations Act 1999 section 23, the government of the United Kingdom has being bestowed the power of employment and its rights to people and institutions who are not defined within the conventional group of employees. This category includes among others, office holders such as the clergy and ministers of religion, casual workers, agency workers, homeworkers and what have you. By this Act, it is not intended that an entirely new strand of labour force was being introduced. On the contrary, the thrust of this Act stipulates that this category of workers should be given the privilege of being a part of the rights mainstream employees enjoy. The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England gave a laudable contribution to a 2002 discussion document under the auspices of the Department for Trade & Industry concerning Employment Status that concerns Statutory Employment Rights. The Council said "the clergy are entitled to terms and conditions of service which adequately protect their rights, recognize their responsibilities and provide proper accountability arrangements." In the light of this a number of observers argued that some clergy men had an additional advantage of a daily independence which indeed cannot be compared to any other professional area. In many ways, the deductions made from the Church of England's response has some covert suggestions that the question of accountability is somewhat strangulated in the current institutional framework. Still in a related vein, the system being operated created considerable latitude of immunity and impunity from culpability of any form of indiscretion. Below is a list of the rights enshrined in section 23 of the Employment Relations Act 1999: - the right to time off for certain purposes; - the right to maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave; - the right to an itemized pay statement; - the right to a written, detailed statement of terms and conditions of work; and - the right to apply to an Employment Tribunal in case of breach of any of the above and for redress against unfair dismissal. Using the Church of England as an illustration again, a greater percentage of clergymen and ministers are not considered employed by the church on the contrary their official appointments are held in line with ecclesiastical law. In any case there are some of the ministers of the gospel who are under employment contracts with say the Diocesan Board of Finance, the National Health Service Trust or other related institutions. Within this category also are the clergymen who are under stipend alongside holding freehold official status, notably among them are the bishops and archbishops, cathedral canons, deacons and archdeacons and other ordinary clergy serving in the parishes. According to some analysts, these freehold ministers have a considerable level of job security tenure, in other words the status of their appointment takes effect from the date of commencement until the obligatory retirement age of 70 (Marci, 2003). In addition to these privileges is the fact that besides evident physical or psychological incapacitation or acts amounting to gross violation of disciplinary codes the appointee has the right to remain in post until the compulsory retirement age of 70. Unlike the clergymen and ministers who are under the freehold bracket, there is a group of clergymen and ministers who are not under the freehold group. This means they are not as adequately covered as their counterparts under the freehold bracket. Ministers and clergymen under this category are subject to summary dismissal if those at the helm of affairs deem it necessary to do so. Their term of office is also temporal in nature without corresponding guarantees of possible renewals should the tenure elapse (Heyman 1998). The internal mechanism has no provision for seeking redress through appeals of any sort either within the church's institutional framework or an external tribunal. Under very extreme cases, the high filing an application in the high court for a judicial review is viewed as a last resort mechanism in a dispute situation. Any attempt to carry out a dispassionate analysis in this essay cannot be treated in isolation with the prying question of what defines the extent to which so-called non-Christian good practices can be replicated to the operating mechanism of our clergy and their ministry. In addition, it is also prudent to assess the pros and cons of the decision to make the rights and responsibilities of members of the clergy a complete undertaken to be governed by contemporary jurisprudence (Farragher, 2002). Understandably, much of the challenges confronting this process can easily be dealt with if all the contending issues are critically analysed on the basis of their individual merits. Having said this, the ensuing paragraphs will be consciously scrutinized within the framework of the dominant theological dogmas that have informed these thoughts for several decades. The following premises should be noted in order to develop a lucid and coherent argument. A look at the main peculiarity between originating divine action and mediate causes or channels of divine agency; Closer examination of the main role of secular courts, as a part of a cautious exegesis of 1 Corinthians 6.1-8 from the Holy Bible not forgetting the peculiar situation that the then Roman civil law in first-century Corinth; The impact and role of 'covenant' in biblical theology in comparison to methods, operations, and presuppositions of 'contracts' in contemporary society; It then begs the question why the group of theologians who sternly agitate and preach about theologies of divine grace would in another breadth place emphasis on the significance of law and secular 'order' serving as another form of a affable check to protect the vulnerable. It is worth noting once again that, notwithstanding the status placed on God as an "employer" does not by any mean either covertly or overtly overrule the presence and role of mortal agents in this divine engagement. This claim will become clearer as the essay advances. The major theological schools of thought on the status of God being the divine employer are lead by the contemporary charismatic movements on the one hand and the Lutheran and Augustinian movements on the other hand. Whilst the Augustinian and Lutheran schools expound that even though God as an immortal is the main "employer" he executes his missions using mortal beings as agents to accomplish these missions. The charismatic movement on the other hand does not entirely object to the first part of the Augustinian principle however they argue that the omnipotence of God's divine nature exalts him above any human institutional support. To avoid needless digression, this argument will not receive further attention for the main reason that it is above the scope of this current essay. Suffice to cite a few candid illustrations to prove a number of points being made. In our day age, there are numerous instances where clergymen who have served as religious chaplains in the security forces, others have served as university lecturers, yet still others have diligently served in other public institutions. Will it therefore be appropriate for such serving clergymen to scorn the directives their heads of departments and superiors assign them on the grounds that they are employed by God and therefore beyond the realm of taking instructions from human agents, who in fact are their superiors On this matter, the theological claims of the Lutheran movement offer a more convincing argument by the sheer fact that it places emphasis on the belief that the occupation of every faithful Christian should enable him or her to give it all the best, without regard for what constitutes a Christian or non-Christian service. It therefore, goes that God is the ultimate source of all "Directives' that is received through human institutions and agents. Saying this does not mean an outright overlooking of some of the conflicts generated from some controversial directives. It still leaves the question of who the clergy really work for unanswered. Notwithstanding these challenges, a few inferences can still be made as a precursor to the unresolved questions. To begin with, the question of giving candid definitions of the regulatory relationship between ministers of the gospel and how their conditions of service should be set and analyzed then there is bound to be a conspicuous difference in how its handling will differ from the secular employment contract regime. The reasons once again are that contemporary perceptions of contractual agreements are not exclusively binding on the religious folks. The cardinal barometer used here is the Holy Bible and the corresponding interpretation given to the principles that have a bearing on the particular issue at stake. It is therefore against this background that, it is widely suggested that when it comes to the question of general principle, most often than not is usually cumbersome to understand the reason behind why it should be appropriate to have a written statement of the mutual obligations of the Church and ministers of the gospel instead of a contract between both parties knowing very well that a contract is a statement of mutual obligations. Finally, contracts may significantly vary on a case by case basis, as wisdom and experience have shown. Moreover, Hans-Georg Gadamer a learned philosopher observes that, 'common sense' derives from the common wisdom bequeathed unto one generation to succeeding generations within a civilization. In the Old Testament this has close connections with 'wisdom'. . . . Reference: Douglas Laycock, 1981, "Towards a General Theory of the Religion Clauses: The Case of Church Labor Relations and the Right to Church Autonomy," Columbia Law REV. 1373. Douglas, Laycock, 2004, "Theology Scholarships, The Pledge of Allegiance, and Religious Liberty: Avoiding the Extremes but Missing the Liberty," Harvard Law Review, Vol. 155, pp. 200 Douglas, Laycock, 1992, "The Crisis in Religious Liberty," George Washington Law Review, Vol. 841, pp. 848 Kathleen, Brady, 2006, "Religious Group Autonomy: Further Reflections About What Is At Stake," Journal of Law & RELIGION 153. Kathleen, A, Brady, 2004, "Religious Organizations and Free Exercise: The Surprising Lessons of Smith," Boston University Law REV. 1633 Marci, A, Hamilton, 2001, "Free Exercise," WM. & MARY L. REV. 823 Marci, A Hamilton, 2003, "Religious Institutions, the No-Harm Doctrine, and the Public Good, supra Boston University Law Journal, 1156. Marci, A, Hamilton, 2004, "Religious Institutions, the No-Harm Doctrine, and the Public Good", Boston University Law Review 1099 Mark, E, Chopko, 2003, "Stating Claims against Religious Institutions", B.C. L. REV. 1089. 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TIMES, Apr. 18, 2006, at A24 Steven, J, Heyman, 1998, "Righting the Balance: An Inquiry Into the Foundations and Limits of Freedom of Expression," Boston University Law Review, Vol. 78, no. 1292 . Thomas, Farragher, 2002, "Church Cloaked in Culture of Silence," Boston Globe, Feb. 24, 2002. Von, G, Keetch & Matthew, K, Richards, 1999, "The Need for Legislation to Enshrine Free Exercise in the Land Use Context," University of California DAVIS Law Review, Vol. 725, pp. 726-27. Read More