Appeal from a judgment of the District Court of Nassau County, First District (Helen Voutsinas, J.), entered December 22, 2011. The judgment, insofar as appealed from, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $3,500 as against defendant Shulamith School for Girls.

ORDERED that the judgment, insofar as appealed from, is affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff was employed as a teacher in a Jewish religious school. She brought this small claims action to recover unpaid wages for the month of November 2010. Following a nonjury trial, a judgment was entered which, insofar as appealed from, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $3,500 as against defendant Shulamith School for Girls.

At the oral argument of this appeal, defendant school conceded that, were it subject to the jurisdiction of the District Court, it would be liable to plaintiff for the sum in issue. Defendant school argued, however, as it had asserted at trial, that because defendant school is a Jewish religious school, and because plaintiff is an Orthodox Jew, the District Court lacked subject matter jurisdition to determine the parties' dispute, which should rather have been brought before a Jewish religious tribunal, a Beit Din. It was conceded that plaintiff had never agreed to submit the dispute to a religious tribunal (compare Davis v Melnicke, 25 AD3d 503 [2006]).

Since this controversy was resolvable by application of neutral principles of law without reference to religious doctrine (see Park Slope Jewish Ctr. v Congregation B'nai Jacob, 90 NY2d 517, 521-522 [1997]), we conclude that the District Court had jurisdiction over the action. Accordingly, the judgment, insofar as appealed from, is affirmed.

Nicolai, P.J., Iannacci and Tolbert, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: August 26, 2013