Catholic Hospital Is Exempt From Washington State Anti-Discrimination Law

In Harris v. Providence Everett Medical Center, (WA App., May 16, 2011), a Washington state appellate court held that a hospital whose parent company is sponsored by a Catholic religious order, the Sisters of Providence, comes within the statutory exemption (RCW 49.60.040(11)) in the state's anti-discrimination law for non-profit "religious or sectarian" organizations. Plaintiff in the case, who claimed pregnancy discrimination, had argued that the hospital was estopped from asserting the religious exemption because of non-discrimination promises made in its employee handbook, but the court found she did not show that she was ever given a copy of the handbook or that the policy in it, as opposed to that in the union's collective bargaining agreement, applied to her.