Former employee sues Richfield Catholic school for discrimination
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A former employee is suing a Twin Cities area Catholic school and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, alleging she was denied employment after she came out as transgender.
Reyzl Grace MoChridhe worked for the 2021-22 school year as a secular librarian at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield. During that year, she started coming out as trans to her close friends.
When it came time to decide whether to renew her contract for another year, MoChridhe says her employers were at first encouraging, until she told them she would be out as trans the following year.
“Allowing an institution to discriminate against employees for the shape of their bodies or the shape of their love is not only a violation of state law, but also a curtailment of religious freedom,” MoChridhe said, addressing reporters in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday.
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The St. Paul nonprofit Gender Justice is representing MoChridhe. The lawsuit argues that her role was secular.
MoChridhe and her attorney, Brittany Stewart, pointed out that MoChridhe is Jewish, which she says she discussed during her interview and throughout her time working at Academy of Holy Angels. Stewart says MoChridhe’s job did not require her to be Catholic or abide by all church beliefs.
“She was not in a role where she was asked to teach theology,” Stewart said. “The idea that religion had some key role in her position as a librarian is, frankly, just ridiculous.”
The Minnesota Human Rights Act allows for limited religious exemptions. The Legislature amended those exemptions in 2024 — after MoChridhe’s employment at the school — to clarify that secular employees are not exempt from the law.
Gender Justice Executive Director Megan Peterson said even before that rule change, MoChridhe should have been protected.
“Limited religious exemptions… were never meant to apply to secular employees,” Peterson said. “Reyzl’s story highlights the importance of ensuring that no employer in Minnesota has carte blanche to discriminate against employees simply because of who they are.”
The lawsuit is asking for monetary damages for MoChridhe, and for a civil penalty for the archdiocese and the Academy of Holy Angels.
The archdiocese says it is reviewing the complaint. A spokesperson for the Academy of Holy Angels says the school takes the complaint seriously, but said the lawsuit involves confidential personnel matters that it cannot comment on.