Waggoner v. Ace Hardware Corp.
| Decision Date | 26 March 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 65079-9,65079-9 |
| Citation | 134 Wn.2d 748,953 P.2d 88 |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
| Parties | , 76 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 894 Wayne WAGGONER and Kathey Cyr, Respondents, v. ACE HARDWARE CORPORATION, a Washington corporation, Petitioner. |
Lofland & Associates, Gary E. Lofland, Yakima, for Petitioner.
Prediletto, Halpin, Scharnikow & Smart, David L. Trick, Yakima, David Putney, Las Vegas, NV, for Respondent.
Wayne Waggoner and Kathey Cyr claim Ace Hardware Corporation engaged in prohibited marital status discrimination by enforcing its employment policy against related, cohabiting or dating employees supervising one another contrary to RCW 49.60.180. The trial court dismissed this claim by partial summary judgment; however, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded to determine business necessity, if any. We reverse the Court of Appeals and reinstate the dismissal.
Two issues are presented: (1) does employment action against cohabiting or dating employees violate RCW 49.60.180 which prohibits marital status employment discrimination; and, if so, (2) does "business necessity" justify the discrimination in this case. We conclude cohabiting or dating relationships are not aspects of "marital status" as these terms are used in the statute and, thus, find the presence or absence of "business necessity" superfluous.
Ace employed Waggoner and Cyr in its Yakima distribution center. Waggoner was the Assistant Distribution Center Manager and was second in command at the facility. He often assumed full responsibility of its operations. Cyr worked as Traffic Supervisor, as Waggoner's subordinate, at the same facility.
Ace prohibits "[e]mployment of close relatives, cohabitors or dating employees within the same departments and/or within the same functional area where one might exercise authority or influence over the other's job status or progression...." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 119-20. Ace also requires employees to disclose conflicts of interest, including relationships which violate company policy.
In 1988 Ace received complaints that Waggoner and Cyr were cohabiting or dating contrary to company policy. The company's Retail Service Manager documented several conversations with Waggoner concerning Waggoner and Cyr's relationship from 1988 through 1991. Waggoner denied any romantic relationship with Cyr.
After confirming Waggoner and Cyr were at least temporarily living together in Cyr's home, Ace's Retail Service Manager again confronted Waggoner and Cyr with allegations of a relationship in 1992. 1 Waggoner and Cyr denied having a relationship but testified they were nevertheless discharged for "seeing" one another. CP at 178. Both Waggoner and Cyr's termination slips cite dishonesty as the reason for discharge.
Waggoner and Cyr married on May 16, 1992, four months after their discharge. They filed suit in superior court against Ace alleging both wrongful termination and marital status discrimination. The trial judge granted Ace's motion for summary judgment on the marital status claim. A jury subsequently found for Ace on the wrongful termination claim. Waggoner and Cyr then appealed the partial summary judgment order, which by then had become a final appealable order. RAP 2.2(a).
The Court of Appeals reversed. Waggoner v. Ace Hardware Corp., 84 Wash.App. 210, 927 P.2d 251 (1996). We granted review. Waggoner v. Ace Hardware Corp., 132 Wash.2d 1001, 939 P.2d 216 (1997).
The summary judgment standard requires the court to consider facts and reasonable inferences in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Questions of law are reviewed de novo. Failor's Pharmacy v. Department of Soc. & Health Servs., 125 Wash.2d 488, 493, 886 P.2d 147 (1994). We may reverse the Court of Appeals if we agree with the trial court that there is no genuine issue of material fact and conclude Ace is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fahn v. Cowlitz County, 93 Wash.2d 368, 371-72, 610 P.2d 857, 621 P.2d 1293 (1980).
RCW 49.60.180 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of "marital status." The statute provides:
It is an unfair practice for any employer ... [t]o discharge or bar any person from employment because of ... marital status .... [or] to discriminate against any person in compensation or in other terms or conditions of employment because of ... marital status.... [ 2
RCW 49.60.180(2)-(3).
Waggoner and Cyr argue "marital status" includes social relationships. The Court of Appeals agreed, concluding the statute's purpose is "to prevent an employer's unnecessary intrusion into an employee's private affairs such as sexual relationships and living arrangements." Waggoner, 84 Wash.App. at 213, 927 P.2d 251.
If the plain meaning of marital status does not encompass cohabiting or dating relationships, this court must enforce the statute as written without judicial interpretation. State v. McCraw, 127 Wash.2d 281, 288-89, 898 P.2d 838 (1995) (citing Sidis v. Brodie/Dohrmann, Inc., 117 Wash.2d 325, 329, 815 P.2d 781 (1991) (quoting King County v. Taxpayers of King County, 104 Wash.2d 1, 5, 700 P.2d 1143 (1985))), superseded by statute as stated in State v. Bolar, 129 Wash.2d 361, 917 P.2d 125 (1996). The plain meaning of a statute is discerned by affording statutory terms their "ordinary, everyday meaning." New York Life Ins. Co. v. Jones, 86 Wash.2d 44, 47, 541 P.2d 989 (1975).
Davis v. Department of Employment Sec., 108 Wash.2d 272 737 P.2d 1262 (1987), examined the definition of marital status. In Davis an unemployment compensation claimant quit her job to live with a man in another city. Id. at 273-74, 737 P.2d 1262. Said claimant filed for benefits alleging her unemployment was caused by her marital status, i.e., the decision to follow her partner to another city. Id. at 278, 737 P.2d 1262. We disagreed: "[W]hile the definition of the term 'meretricious' has lost its original derogatory connotation ..., the term 'marital' is still defined as 'of or relating to marriage or the marriage state.' " Id. at 277, 737 P.2d 1262 (quoting Webster's Third New International Dictionary ). We concluded while leaving a job to marry and move implicates marital status, quitting to cohabit or date does not. Id. at 278, 737 P.2d 1262.
Davis relied upon McFadden v. Elma Country Club, 26 Wash.App. 195, 613 P.2d 146 (1980). Davis, 108 Wash.2d at 278, 737 P.2d 1262. McFadden held a country club could deny membership to a couple because of their intention to live together without the benefit of marriage. The court explained cohabiting was a crime upon enactment of the statute, McFadden, 26 Wash.App. at 201-02, 613 P.2d 146, and a subsequent amendment to RCW 49.60.222 expressed "a broader public policy against protection of unmarried living arrangements." McFadden, 26 Wash.App. at 202, 613 P.2d 146. The court there construed social relationships to be outside the statute's protection. 3
The ordinary meaning of marital status pertains to the status of being married, separated, divorced, or widowed. See Black's Law Dictionary 967 (6th ed.1990). Cohabiting or dating does not alter any of these attributes. Thus the plain meaning of these terms is sufficient to resolve this case.
When statutory language is "amenable to more than one construction ..., resort to legislative history and other aids to construction is appropriate." Kadoranian v. Bellingham Police Dep't, 119 Wash.2d 178, 185, 829 P.2d 1061 (1992). The historical development of a statutory scheme, through a succession of amendments, has also been judicially employed to illuminate the meaning of statutory language. White v. State, 49 Wash.2d 716, 722-25, 306 P.2d 230 (1957), appeal dismissed, 355 U.S. 10, 78 S.Ct. 23, 2 L.Ed.2d 21 (1957).
Three additional factors suggest statutory use of the term "marital status" does not include reference to cohabitation or dating.
First, cohabiting was a crime under Washington law when the Legislature included marital status as a protected class. 4 RCW 9.79.120, repealed by Laws of 1975, 1st Ex.Sess., ch. 260, § 9A.92.010. Cohabitation remained a crime until three years after the Legislature's inclusion of marital status as a protected class. Laws of 1973, ch. 141 § 10; Laws of 1975, 1st Ex.Sess., ch. 260, § 9A.92.010. It would be most anomalous for the Legislature to criminalize and protect the same conduct at the same time.
Waggoner and Cyr suggest society's view of meretricious relationships has evolved since RCW 49.60.180 was enacted; however, while this may be true, it is not pertinent to statutory understanding. We presume legislative consistency when called upon to construe statutory enactments or new amendments to old ones. Department of Fisheries v. Chelan County PUD No. 1, 91 Wash.2d 378, 383, 588 P.2d 1146 (1979) (citing State v. Roth, 78 Wash.2d 711, 715, 479 P.2d 55 1971)); McFadden, 26 Wash.App. at 202, 613 P.2d 146. As per McFadden, 26 Wash.App. at 202, 613 P.2d 146, "[t]he existence of the illegal cohabitation statute for 3 years after the amendment of RCW 49.60.222 would seem to vitiate any argument that the legislature intended 'marital status' discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of a couple's unwed cohabitation."
Whether social relationships deserve protection under RCW 49.60.180 is a decision for the Legislature, not this court. Davis, 108 Wash.2d at 278-79, 737 P.2d 1262 (). See also Vita Food Prods., Inc. v. State, 91 Wash.2d 132, 134, 587 P.2d...
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