Archives for December 2014

Washington Supreme Court Reverses Court Of Appeals’ Ruling Granting Summary Judgment To Clark College On An Instructor’s Age Discrimination Claim Under WLAD

By Erica Shelley Nelson and Jordan L. Jones

Age DiscriminationIn Scrivener v. Clark Coll., the Washington Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals’ ruling granting summary judgment to Clark College on an instructor’s age discrimination claim under Washington’s Law Against Discrimination (WLAD). The Court held that the 55-year-old Plaintiff, who had applied for a tenure-track teaching position at the college, had:

[P]resented sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact either (1) that Clark College’s articulated reason [for not hiring her] was a pretext or (2) that although the reason is legitimate, age was a substantial motivating factor in Clark College’s decision not to hire . . . [the Plaintiff].

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Washington Supreme Court Holds that DSHS Violated the Implied Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing in its Contracts with In-Home Care Providers

By Erica Shelley Nelson and Jordan L. Jones

in-home-health-careIn Rekhter v. Wash. Social & Health Servs. Dep’t, the Washington Supreme Court (WASC) upheld a jury finding that the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS or State) violated the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing in its contracts with in-home care providers (providers). The WASC also held that the trial judge correctly granted summary judgment to DSHS on the providers’ claims that the State (1) wrongfully withheld wages in violation of RCW 49.52.050 and .070 and (2) failed to pay the providers for all hours worked, in violation of the Washington Minimum Wage Act (MWA).

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The Washington Supreme Court Holds That A Trial Court Improperly Granted Summary Judgment and Dismissed Plaintiffs’ Wage Claims

By Erica Shelley Nelson and Jordan L. Jones

minimum-wage_300x300In Becerra Becerra v. Expert Janitorial, LLC, the Washington Supreme Court (WASC) held that a trial court improperly granted summary judgment to Fred Meyer on the issue of “joint employers” and remanded for further proceedings. The WASC stated that “[s]imply put, we find the trial court did not consider all the relevant factors at summary judgment or sufficiently identify why it deemed certain factors to be not relevant.”

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Court Denies Boeing’s Summary Judgment Motion Against Former Employee For FMLA, WFMLA, and WLAD Claims

By Erica Shelley Nelson and Jordan L. Jones 

fmla 2In Alexander v. Boeing Co., the U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington denied defendant Boeing’s motion for summary judgment. The court found that there were genuine disputes of material fact regarding the plaintiff’s claims that Boeing violated the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Washington Family Medical Leave Act (WFMLA), and the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) when they terminated her employment.

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PERC Reverses Examiner on Triggering Event for Skimming Allegation

By Chris Casillas and Therese Norton

dominoeA ‘triggering event’ signals important deadlines for filing unfair labor practice complaints or else a party may risk losing the opportunity to file a complaint with the Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC). In Lake Washington School District, the Commission found that the Examiner Page A. Garcia erred in dismissing the IBEW Local 46’s skimming complaint as untimely and beyond the statute of limitations. The Commission explained that, in a skimming case, the triggering event for the statute of limitations is when bargaining unit work is assigned to non-bargaining unit employees, and not when the union receives notice of the employer’s intent to transfer the work, as the Examiner had concluded.

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