Opinion ID: 2588208
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: statutory cause of action

Text: To answer the United States District Court's certified question, we must determine whether an age discrimination claim can be asserted under RCW 49.60.030. That statute states in relevant part, [a]ny person deeming himself or herself injured by any act in violation of this chapter shall have a civil action in a court ... to enjoin further violations, or to recover the actual damages sustained by the person, or both. RCW 49.60.030(2) (emphasis added). This creates a statutory cause of action for prospective injunctive relief and compensatory damages where a party demonstrates a violation of chapter 49.60 RCW. Unfortunately, the majority reads this chapter to mean this section. The majority's interpretation of RCW 49.60.030(2) does not give effect to the plain language of RCW 49.60.030(2); it renders the language which expressly incorporates any act in violation of chapter 49.60 RCW as the injury for purposes of RCW 49.60.030(2)'s cause of action meaningless and undercuts this Court's opinion in Bennett v. Hardy, 113 Wash.2d 912, 921, 784 P.2d 1258 (1990). I agree with the majority that the Legislature's broad policy statement for chapter 49.60 RCW, standing alone, would not be sufficient to create a cause of action for age discrimination. But RCW 49.60.010 does not stand alone. RCW 49.60.030(2) contained in the very statute the federal court asks us to construe is the provision of Washington's Law Against Discrimination chapter which specifically contains the Legislature's grant of a cause of action to a party. Because RCW 49.60.030(2) specifically provides a cause of action for any act in violation of the entire chapter 49.60 RCW, and because RCW 49.60.010 [1] defines discrimination on the basis of age as a discriminatory practice, discrimination on the basis of age is necessarily an act in violation of this chapter. Therefore, RCW 49.60.030 must allow a party to pursue a claim for age discrimination. We do not look to the Legislature's broad policy statement in RCW 49.60.010 for the creation of age as a protected class or for the creation of a cause of action for age discrimination. We do look to the Legislature's broad policy statement, and chapter 49.60 RCW generally, for antidiscrimination standards whose violation causes the legal injury redressed by RCW 49.60.030(2)'s cause of action. The plain language of RCW 49.60.030(2) provides a statutory cause of action to any party who demonstrates any act in violation of this chapter without further limitation. RCW 49.60.030(2) does not limit itself to protected classes. The proper question for standing to sue under RCW 49.60.030 is not membership in a class protected by RCW 49.60.030(1); the proper question is whether a person demonstrates a violation of the antidiscrimination standards embodied in Washington's Law Against Discrimination. RCW 49.60.010's purpose statement provides just such an antidiscrimination standard: The legislature hereby finds and declares that practices of discrimination against any of its inhabitants because of ... age ... are a matter of state concern, that such discrimination threatens not only the rights and proper privileges of its inhabitants but menaces the institutions and foundations of a free democratic state. RCW 49.60.180 [2] and RCW 49.60.205 also specifically mention age discrimination. RCW 49.60.180 articulates the Legislature's finding that age discrimination is an unfair practice of employers; RCW 49.60.205 specifically subjects age discrimination claims to certain defenses set forth in RCW 49.44.090, strongly implying that the Legislature believed such discrimination was actionable. [3] The majority's reading makes RCW 49.60.205 sadly superfluous. Finally, as we noted in Marquis, the Washington Law Against Discrimination requires liberal construction in order to accomplish the purposes of the law. Marquis, 130 Wash.2d at 108, 922 P.2d 43. The purpose is to end discrimination. Refusing to allow claims does not further that goal.