{"id":13,"count":6,"description":"

\"Court<\/h3>\r\n

DISPARATE TREATMENT (WA STATE): GENERALLY<\/h3>\r\nDisparate treatment is a form of employment discrimination, and it occurs when an employer treats some people less favorably than others based on protected class. Alonso v. Qwest Commc\u2019ns Co., LLC<\/em>, 178 Wn.App. 734, 743, 315 P.3d 610 (Wash.App. Div. 2 2013) (citing Johnson v. Dep\u2019t of Soc. & Health Servs.<\/em>, 80 Wn.App. 212, 226, 907 P.2d 1223 (1996)).\r\n

IMPORTANT: The information contained on this page is for informational purposes only and is based upon my point of view. Due to the rapidly changing nature of the law, we make no warranty or guarantee concerning the accuracy or reliability of the content in this article. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct legal advice from your attorney. Please review our Disclaimer \/ Terms of Use \/ Privacy Policy<\/a> before proceeding.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n

METHODS OF ESTABLISHING A PRIMA FACIE CASE<\/h3>\r\nA plaintiff may establish a prima facie case by either offering direct evidence of an employer\u2019s discriminatory intent, or by satisfying the McDonnell Douglas<\/em> burden-shifting test that gives rise to an inference of discrimination. Id.<\/em> at 743-44 (citing Kastanis v. Educ. Emps. Credit Union<\/em>, 122 Wn.2d 483, 491, 859 P.2d 26, 865 P.2d 507 (1993)).\r\n

THE MCDONNELL DOUGLAS FRAMEWORK<\/h3>\r\nThe McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework has three steps:\r\n

STEP 1:<\/strong> The \"plaintiff bears the initial burden of establishing a prima facie case of discrimination, which creates a presumption of discrimination.\" Scrivener v. Clark College<\/em>, 181 Wn.2d 439, 446, 334 P.3d 541, (2014) (citing, Riehl<\/em>, 152 Wn.2d at 149-50; Kastanis v. Educ. Emps. Credit Union<\/em>, 122 Wn.2d 483, 490, 859 P.2d 26, 865 P.2d 507 (1993)) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted) (emphasis added).<\/p>\r\n

STEP 2:<\/strong> \"[T]he burden shifts to the defendant, who must articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the adverse employment action.\" Mikkelsen v. Public Utility District No. 1 of Kittitas County<\/em>, 189 Wn.2d 516, 527 (Wash. 2017)\u00a0(internal citations and quotation marks omitted) (emphasis added).<\/p>\r\n

STEP 3:<\/strong> \"[I]f the defendant meets this burden, the plaintiff must produce sufficient evidence showing that the defendant's alleged nondiscriminatory reason for the adverse employment action was a pretext.\" Id.<\/em> (internal citations omitted) (emphasis & hyperlink added).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

DISPARATE TREATMENT: THE MCDONNELL DOUGLAS FRAMEWORK: PRIMA FACIE CASE FORMULATIONS<\/h3>\r\nThere are several formulas for the prima facie case of disparate treatment based on the context. Here are a few examples:\r\n\r\nDISPARATE TREATMENT: FAILURE TO HIRE OR PROMOTE CONTEXT:<\/strong> Under the failure-to-hire-or-promote context<\/em>, the prima facie case is generally established by admissible evidence that: (1) the plaintiff is a member of a protected class; (2) the plaintiff applied for a job for which the employer was seeking applicants; (3) the plaintiff was qualified for a job; and (4) the employer awarded the position to someone who is not a member of the protected class. See Hill v. BCTI Income Fund-I<\/em>, 144 Wn.2d 172, 180-82, 23 P.3d 440 (2001).\r\n\r\nDISPARATE TREATMENT: ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTION CONTEXT:<\/strong> Under the\u00a0adverse-employment-action context<\/em>, the prima facie case is generally established by admissible evidence that: (1) plaintiff is a member of a protected class; (2) plaintiff was treated less favorably in terms or conditions of employment; (3) than a similarly situated employee outside of plaintiff's protected class; and (4) plaintiff was doing satisfactory work. Subia v. Riveland<\/em>, 104 Wn.App. 105, 15 P.3d 658 (Div. II 2001).\r\n\r\nDISPARATE TREATMENT: TERMINATION CONTEXT:<\/strong>\u00a0 Under the termination context<\/em>, the prima facie case is generally established by evidence that: (1) the plaintiff is a member of a protected class; (2) the plaintiff was discharged; (3) the plaintiff was performing satisfactorily; and (4) the employer replaced the plaintiff with another person who is not a member of the protected class. See Kastanis v. Educational Employees Credit Union<\/em>, 122 Wn.2d 483, 490, 859 P.2d 26 (1993).\r\n

LEARN MORE<\/h3>\r\nRead our associated articles to learn more about this topic.","link":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/category\/disparate-treatment\/","name":"Disparate Treatment","slug":"disparate-treatment","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nDisparate Treatment Archives - COURT SLIPS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Disparate treatment is a WA-Law-Against-Discrimination theory that occurs when an employer treats some less favorably than others because of protected class\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/category\/disparate-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disparate Treatment Archives - COURT SLIPS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Disparate treatment is a WA-Law-Against-Discrimination theory that occurs when an employer treats some less favorably than others because of protected class\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/category\/disparate-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"COURT SLIPS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cropped-Logo-Court-Slips-Official.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"CollectionPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/category\\\/disparate-treatment\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/category\\\/disparate-treatment\\\/\",\"name\":\"Disparate Treatment Archives - COURT SLIPS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/#website\"},\"description\":\"Disparate treatment is a WA-Law-Against-Discrimination theory that occurs when an employer treats some less favorably than others because of protected class\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/category\\\/disparate-treatment\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/category\\\/disparate-treatment\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Disparate Treatment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/\",\"name\":\"COURT SLIPS\",\"description\":\"Employment Law Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Court Slips\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/Logo-Court-Slips-Official.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/Logo-Court-Slips-Official.png\",\"width\":502,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"Court Slips\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gwilliamslaw.com\\\/court-slips\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Disparate Treatment Archives - COURT SLIPS","description":"Disparate treatment is a WA-Law-Against-Discrimination theory that occurs when an employer treats some less favorably than others because of protected class","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/category\/disparate-treatment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Disparate Treatment Archives - COURT SLIPS","og_description":"Disparate treatment is a WA-Law-Against-Discrimination theory that occurs when an employer treats some less favorably than others because of protected class","og_url":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/category\/disparate-treatment\/","og_site_name":"COURT SLIPS","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cropped-Logo-Court-Slips-Official.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/category\/disparate-treatment\/","url":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/category\/disparate-treatment\/","name":"Disparate Treatment Archives - COURT SLIPS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/#website"},"description":"Disparate treatment is a WA-Law-Against-Discrimination theory that occurs when an employer treats some less favorably than others because of protected class","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/category\/disparate-treatment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/category\/disparate-treatment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Disparate Treatment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/","name":"COURT SLIPS","description":"Employment Law Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/#organization","name":"Court Slips","url":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Logo-Court-Slips-Official.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Logo-Court-Slips-Official.png","width":502,"height":480,"caption":"Court Slips"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taxonomies\/category"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwilliamslaw.com\/court-slips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts?categories=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}