A deeply divided Washington Supreme Court has ruled that the jobs of victims of domestic violence, who are forced to take time off work to look out for themselves or their families, are protected.

By Mike Carter

Seattle Times staff reporter

A deeply divided Washington Supreme Court ruled Friday that jobs are protected for victims of domestic violence who are forced to take time off work to look out for themselves or their families.

The ruling — with four written opinions in all — comes nearly two years after a federal judge asked the state’s justices to resolve the question. Just three of the nine justices signed the majority opinion.

The case involves a federal lawsuit filed in 2005 by Ramona Danny, who was a salaried scheduler for Laidlaw Transit, which provides public transportation services in King County.

The lawsuit alleges that, in 2003, Danny was in an abusive relationship and had to take two weeks off after her then-husband beat their 13-year-old so badly the child had to be hospitalized.

In that time, the lawsuit says, she attended criminal-court hearings against her husband, moved herself and her five children into a shelter and obtained a protective order.

She had been working on a large project with looming deadlines, and when she returned to work she was demoted. She was later fired, she claims, when she protested her demotion to the Seattle Human Rights Commission.

Seattle Times