Religious Discrimination Claim Rejected In Firing of Community Services Director

In Evans v. State of Washington, (WA Ct. App., Jan 23, 2008), a Washington state Court of Appeals rejected employment discrimination and retaliation claims brought by a regional Community Services Division director who claimed her dismissal from her position by the state violated Washington's law prohibiting religious discrimination in employment. Plaintiff Linda Evans was a pastor who headed a church ministry that ran a housing program for low-income teen parents and their children. Evans was variously accused of using her management position to coerce employees into participating in her church, coercing subordinate personnel into giving preferential treatment to her church members, using state computers and telephones to promote her church, praying with employees and allowing employees to address her as "pastor" during working hours. She was dismissed on the grounds that new leadership was needed in her office. The court found that Evans failed to prove either disparate treatment or retaliation, nor did she show that the Department of Social and Health Services' asserted reasons for its actions were a pretext for discrimination.