WASHINGTON LAW AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
Under
WLAD, it is an unfair practice, with very few exceptions, for an
employer to refuse to hire any
person, to
discharge or bar any
person from employment, or to discriminate against any
person in compensation or in other terms and conditions of employment because of
age (40+);
sex (including
pregnancy);
marital status; sexual orientation (including gender identity);
race; color; creed;
national origin; honorably discharged veteran or military status; HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C status; the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical
disability or the use of a trained
dog guide or
service animal by a person with a
disability; and state employee or health care whistleblower status.
It is also an unfair practice for an
employer to
retaliate (i.e., discharge, expel, or otherwise discriminate) against
person because the
person complained about any practices forbidden by the
WLAD, or because the
person has filed a charge, testified, or assisted in any proceeding under
WLAD.
HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT
HARASSMENT IMPUTED TO THE EMPLOYER
Where an owner, manager, partner or corporate officer personally participates in the harassment, this element is met by such proof.
To hold an employer responsible for the discriminatory work environment created by a plaintiff's supervisor(s) or co-worker(s), the employee must show that the employer (a) authorized, knew, or should have known of the harassment and (b) failed to take reasonably prompt and adequate corrective action. This my be shown by proving (a) that complaints were made to the employer through higher managerial or supervisory personnel or by proving such a pervasiveness of ... harassment [based on a protected class] at the work place as to create an inference of the employer's knowledge or constructive knowledge of it and (b) that the employer's remedial action was not of such nature as to have been reasonable calculated to end the harassment. . . .
[A]n employer may ordinarily avoid liability by taking prompt and adequate corrective action when it learns that an employee is being . . . harassed [based on a protected class].
Id. at 407-08 (emphasis and paragraph formatting added) (alteration in original).
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