By Richard R. Hammar, J.D., LL.M., CPA
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A Washington state appeals court ruled that the exemption of churches from the state unemployment compensation law did not violate state or federal constitutional provisions prohibiting the establishment of religion. A woman was employed as a counselor in a drug treatment program administered by a church. She applied for unemployment benefits following her termination. When benefits were denied no the ground that the church was exempt from coverage under the state unemployment compensation law, the woman challenged the constitutionality of the exemption. The court applied the United States Supreme Court's so-called Lemon test in determining whether the church exemption constituted an impermissible establishment of religion. Under this test, first announced in a 1971 decision (Lemon v. Kurtzman), a government law or practice challenged as an establishment of religion will be valid only if it satisfies the following three conditions-a secular purpose, a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion, and no excessive entanglement between church and state. The court concluded that all of these tests were met. Saucier v. Employment Security Department, 954 P.2d 285 (Wash. App. 1998).