Catholic Charities, a social service agency, applied to be exempt from paying the unemployment tax in Wisconsin, based on their affiliation with the Catholic church. This was denied, so Catholic Charities turned the other cheek and sued the state and repeatedly lost, all the way up to the state supreme court::
In light of all that, Catholic Charities applied to the state for an exemption from paying unemployment taxes for its employees. But the state labor commission refused the application, on grounds that the charitable group was engaging in activities that “are not religious, per se,” and thus are not entitled to be exempt from paying unemployment taxes.
In March, a closely divided state Supreme Court agreed, citing what it called objective criteria. The state court said that the charity’s activities were mostly secular, noting that the organization does not “attempt to imbue program participants with the Catholic faith, nor supply any religious materials.” The state court also observed that the charity “did not proselytize, did not conduct worship services, religious outreach, or religious education.” Therefore, the state court concluded, the charity is not qualified to be exempt from state unemployment taxes as a religious institution
The decision is the correct one. However, I would also point out that their religious affiliation is irrelevant to the work. The majority of this kind of work is done on a secular basis by a secular agency, namely the government. Furthermore, a lot of funding for Catholic Charities will be coming from the government. Thus they would be required to keep their work secular as well, since the government cannot promote a religion.
Not satisfied, Catholic Charities has appealed to SCOTUS, who agreed to take the case.
This is where Karma enters the conversation.
Just days after it’s announced that SCOTUS will take Catholic Charities lawsuit to steal from the public by not paying their taxes, the agency is in the news again, this time as the victim. Allegedly, they were the victims of theft when former employees stole over a million dollars from them:
Milwaukee social services agency Catholic Charities said it has fired employees who allegedly stole at least $1.7 million in a years-long scheme.
The Very Rev. David Reith, who leads Milwaukee’s Catholic Charities as vicar, made the announcement Monday morning in an email.
Certain employees “engaged in unauthorized use of funds for their and others’ personal benefit,” Reith wrote. Internal investigations indicate that four employees were involved: two of them were working for Catholic Charities at the time the scheme was discovered, and two were former employees.
They say God works in mysterious ways. Karma is a bit more direct and more fun to watch.
