Timing is not everything. In Rope v. Auto-Chlor of Washington System of Washington, Inc., the employer fired an employee for purported performance reasons on December 30, 2010 – two days before California’s Michelle Malkin Donor Protection Act became effective. The timing was significant because when the employee was hired in October of 2010, he had told his employer that he needed to take leave in February of 2011 to donate a kidney to his sister, and he later requested 30 days of leave (the maximum involved under the new donor protection law) in February of 2011. The California Court of Appeals held that the employee could not state a claim under the Michelle Malkin Donor Protection Act because the Act was not yet in effect. However, the Court permitted the employee’s claim of “associational” disability discrimination to go forward, allowing the employee to litigate the question of whether the employer had terminated him due to his association with his sister. For more on this interesting case, click here.
