Making sure Sunday, and every day, runs smoothly at church requires a dedicated team. Whether it takes 2 or 52 to staff your church, you need a solid foundation of employment practices to protect your ministry and the people who work there. Get a crash course in HR 101 with Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company’s employment attorneys: Kathleen Turpin, vice president of human resources, and Scott Fera, corporate attorney. Hear about trending employment liability issues Christian ministries face and why it’s more important than ever for church employers to clearly communicate expectations to employees.

Resources

Slide Deck: Top 5 Employment Law Issues for Churches

About Kathleen

Kathleen Turpin, JD, CPCU, AIM is Vice President –Human Resources at Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company. She joined Brotherhood Mutual in 1996 as a litigation specialist in the claims department. She became associate corporate counsel in 1998 and assumed her current position in November 2003.

Kathleen holds a degree in speech and psychology from Greenville University in Greenville, Illinois, and earned her law degree at the Indiana University School of Law. In 1999, she received designations as an Associate in Management and a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter. Turpin is a member of the Christian Legal Society, Indiana Bar Association, Association of Corporate Counsel, Society of Human Resources, and Northern Indiana Human Resources Association. She also serves as the chair of the board of directors of Greenville University. Turpin attends Grace Point Church of the Nazarene, where she serves on the day care center board and is a youth leader and past church board member.

About Scott

Scott Fera is Corporate Attorney at Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company. He joined Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company in 2022 as corporate attorney after serving several years as General Counsel & Vice President of Special Projects for William Jessup University in Rocklin, California.  He specializes in higher education, religious freedom, and employment law, helping ministries navigate the legal, regulatory, and reputational issues facing today’s religious nonprofits.

Scott earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and his Juris Doctorate at Pepperdine University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in Florida and California, and is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys and an allied attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom. Scott teaches “Media Law & Ethics” and “Podcast Design & Production” as adjunct faculty in Jessup’s Digital Communication and Design program.