Employment Vs. Vocation: Is A Priest An Employee?

A specialized tribunal in Quebec recently decided in Dubois v. Diocèse de Trois-Rivières¹ that a parish priest was neither in the employment of the diocese that appointed him nor the parish corporation for which he was selected to perform his services. Tasked with determining whether an employment relationship existed under the Quebec Occupational Work and Safety Act (the "Act"), the Tribunal concluded that the relationship was a spiritual one and effectively denied the priest's claim.

Through his appeal to the Tribunal, the priest was seeking compensation for the pulmonary disease and asthma, the state of general anxiety and depression, as well as the posttraumatic stress disorder he suffered during the course of his tenure as parish priest. There quickly ensued a debate between the bishopric that appointed him and the parish corporation that ensured the payment of the services rendered, as to who would foot the bill.