The Court of Appeals of Minnesota has affirmed a district court ruling dismissing an age discrimination claim by an employee who was terminated and her position eliminated shortly after it became known that she wanted to retire within a year or two.  It found that even though the employer’s comments were more than “stray remarks,” the employee did not show that the corporate reorganization was merely a pretext for discrimination.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the constitutionality of the “parsonage allowance” that allows ministers to avoid income tax on a “rental allowance”” paid as part of compensation to the extent “used to rent or provide a home.”  The Court says it “falls into the play between the joints of the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause: neither commanded by the former, nor proscribed by the latter.”

After more than five years of dispute and litigation, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra has finally successfully fired a volunteer.  The Texas Supreme Court has held that the volunteer has no case against the Symphony and ordered a trial court to dismiss the claims.

The U.S.

The federal District Court in Maryland has refused to grant taxpayers a charitable contribution deduction for the value of a home they donated to a charity for “deconstruction” as part of the organization’s job training program.  The Court has allowed a deduction for additional cash that the owners gave in order to offset some of the charity’s costs.