History of the Complaint Process

A Quick History of Misconduct Complaint Policies and Procedures Since 2000

The Unitarian Universalist Association’s Office of Ethics and Safety is able to address complaints of misconduct against ministers and congregational staff who are credentialed, or in the process of being credentialed, by the UUA. This currently means: ministers in fellowship or pursuing fellowship, as well as credentialed religious educators and those pursuing religious education credentialing with the UUA. (If a congregation’s leaders need guidance on addressing non-UUA-credentialed religious professional misconduct, your UUA Regional Staff can assist.) Because the UUA has only been credentialing religious educators since 2004, our history of addressing professional misconduct has predominantly focused on ministerial misconduct.

Historically, misconduct by any staff member or minister of a congregation could result in their termination from employment in the congregation and the involvement of law enforcement if relevant. Additionally, if that religious professional had credentials with the UUA as a "fellowshipped minister" or "credentialed religious educator," their credentials could be suspended, put on probation, or revoked as a result of a complaint of misconduct.

What is considered misconduct and which religious professionals’ misconduct is actionable by the UUA has changed in the past three decades. Generally, professional misconduct is defined as conduct that defies the guidelines, laws, boundaries, and/or codes of ethics that govern the practice of a given profession. Those guidelines, codes of ethics, and laws have changed, as have our collective cultural understandings of boundaries.

Specifically, violations of the UUMA Code of Conduct or LREDA Code of Professional Practices are considered professional misconduct if the violator is a Unitarian Universalist minister or religious educator who is credentialed (or on the path to credentialing) with the UUA. The codes of conduct have been amended over the decades, as members of both organizations more clearly defined the boundary between appropriate and inappropriate sexual conduct. Further, the UUMA members brought more definition to the appropriate boundaries for a minister’s conduct as supervisor of staff.

In a parallel process, the UUA sought to make its misconduct complaint process more clear and more comfortable for those who make complaints.

What follows are some key events on the timeline, since 2000:

In 2000, at the UUA General Assembly in Nashville, Tennessee, the UUA’s Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery offered a public apology to victims of clergy misconduct in Unitarian Universalist congregations. This represented the launch of some deeper institutional work to both prevent and respond to clergy misconduct.
In the early 2000s, the UUA convened a task force to review and recommend policies and procedures regarding the prevention and response to sexual misconduct. That task force, led by the Rev. Fred Muir, completed its work in 2002. Their recommendations led to the creation of The Office of Ethics and Safety at the UUA. This is the office that handles complaints of professional misconduct.
In 2004 the UUA began credentialing religious educators, which also meant that the UUA could begin to receive complaints about misconduct by religious educators who were credentialed or in the process to become credentialed.
In 2009, with the support from the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock and the leadership staff of the UUA, Rev. Debra Haffner of the Religious Institute began a systematic review of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s sexuality-related policies, programs, advocacy, and commitments. The resulting report, Toward a Sexually Healthy and Responsible UUA (PDF), 45 pages, prompted a fall 2010 review of the complaint process.
In 2013, the membership of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association voted to change its Guidelines and Code of Conduct to more simply and cleanly define the already-existing prohibition on sexual relationships with people they serve as ministers.
At the 2014 UUA General Assembly, UUA Moderator Jim Key made a public apology to victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct, expressing regret for the ways our complaint process had fallen short in the past.
After Moderator Key’s statement, UUA staff worked to reform the misconduct complaint process so that it would be easier, emotionally and logistically, on the people who file complaints of professional misconduct.
In 2015 the UUA launched a team of Advocates. Advocates are trained volunteers who accompany complainants during the process of complaint, investigation, and adjudication. Advocates continue to be available to support complainants, and are appointed by the Office of Ethics and Safety.
In 2016, the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA) membership voted to revise its Code of Professional Practices to clearly define the prohibition of sexual relationships with people they serve.
In 2019, the membership of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association voted to change its Guidelines and Code of Conduct to more simply and cleanly define bullying, discrimination, and harassment as professional misconduct.
In 2023, the UUA Board approved new Rules and Policies of the Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC) (Google Doc). These rules streamlined the complaint process.
Additionally in 2023 the UUA Board approved a new appendix to the Rules and Policies of the Ministerial Fellowship Committee to create a much clearer set of guidelines as to what constitutes an actionable misconduct complaint. See page 36 of the rules to find Thresholds of Misconduct (Google Doc).