Terwilliger v. St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center

David Newbern, Justice.

Arkansas employers pay an unemployment tax under the Employment Security Law. Exempted from the requirement is employment in the service of a “church or convention or association of churches” or an “organization operated primarily for religious purposes and which is operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches.” Ark. Code Ann. § 10-11-210(a)(4) (A)(i) and (ii) (Supp. 1989). St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center (SVI) paid the tax after being determined liable for it in 1972 without contest. In 1988 SVI…