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Pulcino v. Federal Express Corp.9/14/2000
ent for collective bargaining." (Emphasis added.) Much more recently, this court concluded that "interference, restraint, or coercion" has a broader meaning than "discharge" and, thus, RCW 49.32.060 prohibits not only wrongful terminations but a "wide range" of other adverse employment actions as well. Bravo v. Dolsen Cos., 125 Wn.2d 745, 756, 888 P.2d 147 (1995). Consequently, we agree with the Court of Appeals that the trial court improperly limited Pulcino's union discrimination claim to a wrongful discharge theory.
FedEx, however, urges a different basis to affirm the trial court's directed verdict. It claims that Pulcino's union membership alone was not sufficient to satisfy a statutory requirement that actionable discriminatory employment action be based upon the employee's participation in "concerted activities." We disagree.
Although the Bravo court did not decide this precise issue, it did interpret the language "concerted activities" to mean activities that employees undertake "in concert--together--for the purpose of improving their working conditions." 125 Wn.2d at 752. The Bravo court thus concluded that RCW 49.32.020 extends to nonunion employees stating:
if employees' right to act in concert to improve their working conditions existed only after they formed a union, employees would enjoy no protection to enable unionization. That could not have been the legislative intent, given its recognition that the unorganized worker is at an enormous disadvantage in seeking to obtain acceptable terms of employment. 125 Wn.2d at 754 (citing RCW 49.32.020).
We find that the act of joining, belonging to, or voting against decertification of a labor union constitutes an activity undertaken together for the purpose of improving working conditions, i.e., a "concerted activity." Similar to the reasoning in Bravo, the Legislature could not have intended to prohibit "interference, restraint, or coercion" that is based upon an employee's active participation in labor organizing or union activity, while leaving union members unprotected after they attain their collective bargaining goals.
Furthermore, our broad interpretation of the "concerted activities" requirement is consistent with federal case law. Contrary to FedEx's suggestion, the language of the NLRA is very similar to the language here, and this court considers persuasive the federal cases interpreting it. Bravo, 125 Wn.2d at 755.
CONCLUSION
In sum, we reverse the summary judgment dismissal of the disability discrimination claim because there are disputed issues of material fact regarding whether FedEx reasonably accommodated Pulcino's temporary disabilities. We find that Pulcino's union discrimination claim is not preempted by the RLA because it involves substantive rights independent of the CBA. The Court of Appeals properly reversed the directed verdict because RCW 49.32.020 prohibits all forms of employer interference with organized workers, not just discriminatory terminations. Bravo, 125 Wn.2d at 758. We further hold that union membership satisfies RCW 49.32.020's "concerted activities" requirement.
MADSEN, J. (concurring in part/dissenting in part)
By allowing the plaintiff's cause of action for disability discrimination to go forward, the majority trivializes the discrimination suffered by persons with disabilities. Moreover, the extremely broad definition proposed by the majority perverts the objective of the laws against discrimination in employment based upon disability, allowing common personal injuries to stand in the stead of true disability. This is not the aim of such laws.
T
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