Court Opinion

ID: 9552665
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:14:50.447177+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:28:35.675403
License: Public Domain

Worswick, C.J.
(concurring)—I would not have done *602with this case what PERC did, but I am not PERC. We have adopted federal law in dual-motive cases as our own. Washington Pub. Employees Ass'n v. Community College Dist. 9, 31 Wn. App. 203, 642 P.2d 1248 (1982). That law makes it absurdly easy for an employee to make a prima facie case and exquisitely difficult for an employer to overcome it. Therefore, I must defer to PERC's conclusion that a motive for Baker's termination was his engagement in protected activities.
However, I agree with the dissent in two particulars. First, PERC's conclusion (or finding) that Clallam County was motivated by antiunion animus is unsupported by the record; indeed, it is preposterous. Second, the copious quotations from Baker's resume' employed in the lead opinion do not accurately describe Baker. He was more than a "sealawyer"; he was a churl and Clallam County is well rid of him.