    |
       |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Update:
Victory for domestic violence victims!
In Danny vs. Laidlaw, court rules employers cannot fire domestic violence victims who take time off from work to protect themselves and their children
October 3, 2008 - The Washington State Supreme Court today ruled that victims of domestic violence cannot be forced to choose between protecting their lives and protecting their livelihoods.
Danny vs. Laidlaw - History
 |
Photo by Ginny Banks of Real Change |
On September 14, 2006, the Washington Supreme Court heard oral argument in Danny v. Laidlaw, a case the Northwest Women's Law Center brought on behalf of a domestic violence survivor fired for protecting herself and her children.
Washington's public policy aims to eradicate domestic violence and to protect survivors, but the legal protections now in place are meaningless if survivors’ economic security is jeopardized along with their personal safety. Our laws and policies must ensure that employees who have suffered domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking retain the ability to earn a living for themselves and their children.
Our client, Ramona Danny, an exemplary worker and a supervisor of transportation schedulers at Laidlaw Transit, was forced to take two weeks off work to address severe domestic violence in her family.
During her leave, she cared for her son, who was hospitalized after being beaten by his father; attended criminal proceedings against her husband; moved herself and her five children into a domestic violence shelter; obtained a protection order against her husband; and instituted divorce proceedings. Shortly after she returned to work, she was demoted. After filing a discrimination claim with the Seattle Human Rights Commission, she was fired. The Law Center represents her in federal court: the trial judge there certified to the Washington Supreme Court the question whether such a termination violates Washington's public policy.
But the women of Washington should not have to wait for workplace protections. So we took our case to the Washington State Legislature and asked them to change the law. Thanks in large part to Ramona Danny’s testimony about her experience, the Legislature acted in 2008 to ensure that survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking can take time off from work to deal with the effects of the crimes they’ve suffered. Read more about the new law.
We also hope to see justice done in Ms. Danny’s case. We look forward to the Court's decision, and to seeing Ms. Danny's rights and those of all victims of violence vindicated and protected.
Read the Law Center’s opening brief and reply brief filed in the Washington Supreme Court.
Read the Amicus Brief filed by the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
MORE ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN:
Emergency Contraception in the ER