Wa Federation Of State Employees, Resps V. Freedom Foundation, App

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMarch 28, 2022
Docket83342-1
StatusPublished

This text of Wa Federation Of State Employees, Resps V. Freedom Foundation, App (Wa Federation Of State Employees, Resps V. Freedom Foundation, App) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wa Federation Of State Employees, Resps V. Freedom Foundation, App, (Wash. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON FEDERATION OF STATE No. 83342-1-I EMPLOYEES, COUNCIL, 28; et al.† DIVISION ONE Respondents, PUBLISHED OPINION v.

STATE OF WASHINGTON; et. al.

Respondents,

FREEDOM FOUNDATION,

Appellant.

ANDRUS, A.C.J. — The Freedom Foundation (Foundation) appeals the entry

of a permanent injunction precluding the State of Washington from disclosing the

names, birthdates, work addresses, and work emails of public employees who

have certified to their union or to the State that they or a family member are

survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or harassment. The

Foundation contends no public employee has a constitutional right to prevent the

State from disclosing this information under the Public Records Act (PRA).1

† See Appendix for a list of all respondents. 1 Ch. 42.56 RCW.

Citations and pin cites are based on the Westlaw online version of the cited material. No. 83342-1-I/2

We reject the Foundation’s argument and conclude that public employees

who are survivors, or whose immediate family members are survivors, of domestic

violence, sexual assault, stalking, or harassment have a substantive due process

right to personal security and bodily integrity. This constitutional right precludes

the State from disclosing their name and physical work location or work contact

information when doing so presents a substantial likelihood that the employee’s

physical safety or the safety of that employee’s family member would be in danger.

Under RCW 42.56.540, however, injunctive relief is only appropriate when

an individual can establish substantial and irreparable harm from the disclosure of

protected information. The record before the trial court is insufficient to establish

an individualized risk of bodily harm to the over 1,000 employees on whose behalf

the Unions sought injunctive relief. Accordingly, we reverse the order granting

summary judgment to the Unions, reverse the permanent injunction, and remand

to the trial court to determine the most appropriate method of conducting this

individualized risk assessment as required by RCW 42.56.540.

FACTS

The Foundation is a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote “individual

liberty, free enterprise, and limited, accountable government.” One focus of the

Foundation’s mission is to inform public employees of their right to opt out of union

membership. To identify, and directly contact, members of its public employee

audience, the Foundation sent several PRA requests to hundreds of public entities

seeking, among other things, employees’ full name, full birthdate, job title, work

email address, employer, and duty station address.

-2- No. 83342-1-I/3

On December 18, 2019, several labor organizations2 (the Unions) filed a

complaint against multiple state agencies, universities, and community colleges,

asserting that the release of the personal information of survivors of domestic

violence, stalking, and sexual assault would violate their constitutional rights,

making the requested information exempt under RCW 42.56.070(1). That same

day, the Unions obtained an ex parte temporary restraining order, prohibiting the

named agencies from releasing information to the Foundation until a hearing could

be held on the Unions’ motion for preliminary injunctive relief.

On December 23, 2019, the Unions filed an amended complaint, naming

additional unions as plaintiffs and filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. The

Foundation opposed the injunction. After a hearing on December 27, 2019, the

trial court preliminarily enjoined the named public entities from "releasing or

disclosing the names, birthdates, duty station/location and work email” of the

certain public employees deemed to be “protected employees.” The trial court

defined the “protected employees” as any public employee who provided DRS or

their union specified documentation evidencing their status or the status of a family

member as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.3

2 The original group consisted of four unions, but was later amended to include more than 30 labor organizations. 3 The court held that the documentation had to consist of (a) a police report indicating the employee

or their family member was the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; (b) a court order protecting the employee or their family member from the perpetrator of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; (c) documentation from a domestic violence advocate, attorney, clergy member, or medical professional, attesting to the fact that the public employee or a member of their family sought assistance to address domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking; (d) a written statement from the public employee attesting to their status or that of a family member as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; or (e) a court-issued temporary protection order or anti-harassment order.

-3- No. 83342-1-I/4

The court found that disclosure would violate these protected employees’

rights of privacy under the constitutions of Washington State and the United States

“because their personal bodily security and lives would be jeopardized by the

release of their names linked with their birthdates, work title and work location” and

therefore would violate RCW 42.56.070(1). To give the public entities time to

identify their “protected employees,” the trial court enjoined the disclosure of any

names, birthdates, duty station or work locations, and work emails of any public

employee represented by the Unions until March 31, 2020. The court required the

Unions and the public entities to file status reports on their efforts to identify the

protected employees by February 25, 2020, and it set a status hearing for March

6, 2020.

Shortly after the court entered the preliminary injunction, the Unions learned

that the Foundation had sent PRA requests to additional local and state agencies,

seeking the same personal information covered by the preliminary injunction.

Because the recipients of these requests were not named in the lawsuit, the

Unions filed a second amended complaint to add them as named defendants and

moved to extend the preliminary injunction to them. The trial court granted the

Unions’ motion.

On January 15, 2020, the Foundation sent PRA requests to another 300

state and local agencies who were not yet parties to the litigation, seeking the

same information. When the Unions learned of these PRA requests, they

amended their complaint a third, fourth, and fifth time on January 28, February 02,

and February 28, 2020, respectively, to add these agencies as named defendants

-4- No. 83342-1-I/5

and again asked the court to extend the preliminary injunction to cover them. The

trial court extended the preliminary injunction to these newly named parties.

On March 23, 2020, the trial court extended the duration of the preliminary

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Ingraham v. Wright
430 U.S. 651 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Officer Melissa Kallstrom v. City of Columbus
136 F.3d 1055 (Sixth Circuit, 1998)
Kennedy v. City of Ridgefield
439 F.3d 1055 (Ninth Circuit, 2006)
Hearst Corp. v. Hoppe
580 P.2d 246 (Washington Supreme Court, 1978)
In Re Dependency of Penelope B.
709 P.2d 1185 (Washington Supreme Court, 1985)
Diversified Industries Development Corp. v. Ripley
514 P.2d 137 (Washington Supreme Court, 1973)
NEIGHBORHOOD ALLIANCE OF SPOKANE v. Spokane
261 P.3d 119 (Washington Supreme Court, 2011)
Danny v. Laidlaw Transit Services, Inc.
193 P.3d 128 (Washington Supreme Court, 2008)
To-Ro Trade Shows v. Collins
27 P.3d 1149 (Washington Supreme Court, 2001)
State v. Sublett
231 P.3d 231 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2010)
Lyft, Inc. v. City of Seattle
418 P.3d 102 (Washington Supreme Court, 2018)
Irish v. Fowler
979 F.3d 65 (First Circuit, 2020)
Progressive Animal Welfare Society v. University of Washington
884 P.2d 592 (Washington Supreme Court, 1994)
Wilson v. Horsley
974 P.2d 316 (Washington Supreme Court, 1999)
To-Ro Trade Shows v. Collins
144 Wash. 2d 403 (Washington Supreme Court, 2001)
Danny v. Laidlaw Transit Services, Inc.
165 Wash. 2d 200 (Washington Supreme Court, 2008)
State v. Sublett
292 P.3d 715 (Washington Supreme Court, 2012)
Freedom Foundation v. Gregoire
310 P.3d 1252 (Washington Supreme Court, 2013)
SentinelC3, Inc. v. Hunt
331 P.3d 40 (Washington Supreme Court, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Wa Federation Of State Employees, Resps V. Freedom Foundation, App, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wa-federation-of-state-employees-resps-v-freedom-foundation-app-washctapp-2022.