Thursday, November 09, 2017
Today the Washington Supreme court issued a decision in Jin Zhu v. North Central Educational Service District- ESD 171, No. 94029-9.
Court holds employers who refuse to hire an employee who opposed discrimination in a prior job may be sued for retaliation.?
In this case, Plaintiff made a race discrimination and retaliation suit against his prior employer which settled, and later applied for employment with the defendant, which knew about his prior race claim.? He was passed over for that job, and sued for retaliation and discrimination.? WELA?s amicus brief argued that the Washington Law Against Discrimination protects applicants from retaliation by a prospective employer under the plain language of the statute and the policies underlying it.? WELA members Jesse Wing, Sam Kramer, and Dan Johnson wrote a brief in favor of the Plaintiff.? Read WELA?s brief here.
Today the Court ruled today in favor of Jin Zhu, who sued North Central Education District for declining to hire him, allegedly because of his opposition to race discrimination in his previous job.? The Court held that the Washington Law Against Discrimination?s anti-retaliation provision plainly applies to subsequent employers in this situation.? Read the opinion here.