Benjamin Stone Speaks with Law360 about Key Washington Family Care Act Ruling

Seattle, Wash. (December 20, 2023) – Seattle Administrative Partner Benjamin J. Stone recently spoke with Law360 about a Washington state Supreme Court decision affirming that Alaska Airlines did not run afoul of the Washington Family Care Act when it refused to grant a flight attendant last-minute vacation leave to care for her sick child, as part of a roundup of the most impactful rulings in the state in 2023.

The article, titled “Biggest Washington Decisions of 2023,” recapped three of the year’s most important decisions out of courts in the Evergreen State. 

In one of those cases, Alaska Airlines v. Department of Labor & Industries, a narrow 5-4 majority of the Washington high court found that a flight attendant for the airline was not entitled to use her vacation leave with little notice to care for her sick child, even when she had scheduled additional vacation time for months in the future.

The state high court agreed with Alaska Airlines that employees were bound by a “pre-scheduling agreement” in their union contract, which bars an employee who has exhausted their sick leave from taking vacation time that they had previously scheduled for a later date. 

Mr. Stone told Law360 that the decision is illustrative of how the high court will address issues of statutory interpretation in the context of employee rights. He said the ruling stood out because it should have been unanimous, but the four dissenting justices opined that the Family Leave Act should fit with the Washington Legislature’s intent, even though their opinion is in tension with the statute’s plain language. 

Perhaps the Washington justices were signaling to the Legislature that the law needs to be rewritten to fix a hole in it, he observed.

"For some family members, you can take this leave; you just can't do it for a child, and the majority points that out," Mr. Stone concluded.

Mr. Stone serves as the Pacific Northwest Regional Vice Chair of Lewis Brisbois’ Labor & Employment Practice. His practice is focused on employment and civil-rights defense work. He defends companies and other employers against federal and state law employment claims and has handled matters in Washington State federal and state court, in arbitration, and before the EEOC, the Department of Labor, the Washington State Human Rights Commission and the Seattle Office for Civil Rights.

Read the full Law360 article here (subscription may be required).