Opinion ID: 2588208
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: the certified issue

Text: The issue certified by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington: Does RCW 49.60.030 allow an independent contractor to pursue a claim of age discrimination? The majority mistakes the issue briefed by the defendant for the issue certified by the United States District Court. The question before us is simply whether an age discrimination claim can be asserted by an independent contractor under RCW 49.60.030. The majority instead answers the question presented by the defendant: whether age is among the protected classes set forth in RCW 49.60.030(1). As we recognized in Marquis v. City of Spokane, 130 Wash.2d 97, 106, 922 P.2d 43 (1996), age is not among the protected classes explicitly enumerated in RCW 49.60.030(1). But this is not the question before us. The question before us requires us to look beyond one subsection of the statute and look to the entire statute, and according to the express language of that statute, the entire chapter.