Gregory Lowrey, owner of the Happy Valley Tattoo parlor, challenged the Utah Department of Workforce Services Appeals Board’s decision that the wages of a former employee, Jacklyn Johnson, were subject to unemployment insurance. Lowry argued that the business was part of his church, UBU Ministries, which includes tattooing among its religious tenets.
On appeal to the Utah Court of Appeals, Lowrey contended that Johnson was an employee of UBU and was fired for just cause. The court found that Lowrey failed to prove any of his claims, including the point that UBU qualified as an exempt religious organization:
Lowrey does not identify anything in the record besides his testimony as to UBU’s religious nature that would establish UBU as an exempt organization under the statutory definition.
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