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I was recently interviewed by the online newswire Employment Law 360 about associational discrimination claims.  These are claims in which a party suffers discrimination by virtue of being associated with someone within a protected category (whether by familial relations, friendship or work-related interactions).  These claims are different from retaliation claims in that they do not require the party to have engaged in protected activity; instead all that is required is evidence that race/gender/disability etc. was a factor in the employment decision.

A recent 7th Circuit case assessed these claims in the disability context and handed down what I believe to be a very favorable decision.  Our firm handles a lot of disability claims and we have found that federal courts, too often, openly disfavor these types of cases.  Seeing a decision like this does my heart good.

The heartening decision is Dewitt v. Proctor Hospital, 07-1957.  In that case, the Plaintiff-employee brought claims against the Hospital-employer for terminating her after she rejected numerous suggestions that her husband employ less expensive means of treating his prostate cancer.  Proctor, no surprise, was partially self-insured and, thus, had a vested interest in cheapening the husband’s care.  Soon after the Plaintiff refused to downgrade her husband’s care, she was fired. 

The court, in reversing the lower court’s grant of summary judgment, found that the Plaintiff had supplied ample evidence from which a jury could infer that her husband’s condition was, indeed, the reason for her termination.  The court seemed to focus its decision almost entirely on the evidence of the rather heartless discussions Hospital administrators had with Plaintiff about her husband’s care.  The court held that the evidence of those discussions constituted direct evidence by which Plaintiff could prove her claim.

Kristin M. Case is the founding Member of The Case Law Firm. The Case Law Firm, LLC is a Chicago-based civil rights employment law firm committed to representing employees throughout their employment relationships.


The Case Law Firm, LLC.
Chicago, Illinois
(312) 920-0400
www.thecaselawfirm.com