God may provide, but the state may not when it comes to unemployment benefits for employees laid off by churches, synagogues and other religious groups.
Carol Bronson discovered that a few months ago after she lost her secretarial job at Temple Emanuel synagogue in Virginia Beach. Bronson assumed she could draw unemployment benefits, but when she filed a claim, she was denied.
It was a hard way to learn that under Virginia law, as in many states, tax exemptions for religious organizations include freedom from paying unemployment taxes, though the IRS requires they pay Social Security and withholding taxes.
Intending no lack of sympathy for Carol Bronson’s situation, but how can anyone intelligent enough to be a church secretary have failed to inquire during the application and hiring process what the benefit program might be? This strikes me as “creative reporting.”