Virginia Business Law Update : Virginia Business Lawyers & Attorneys : PCT Law Group : Litigation Defenses, Contract Disputes, Business Formation : Northern Virginia, Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria

You manage the Virginia office of a company headquartered in the District of Columbia, and place an ad for a job opening in a Virginia newspaper. Thereafter, you conduct interviews for that position at your Virginia office, and hire a new employee who proceeds to work full-time in Virginia.

And a couple of years later, you terminate the employee for poor performance and the employee files a lawsuit against your company for discrimination. Clearly, the employee’s lawsuit must be brought in Virginia under Virginia law, right? If your answer is “yes,” you are not alone, as I would have answered “yes” as well. However, in light of a new D.C. Court of Appeals case, we would both be wrong!

In Monteilh v. AFSCME, AFL-CIO (PDF), the D.C. Court of Appeals held that an employee could maintain a lawsuit in the D.C. Courts under the D.C. Human Rights Act (D.C.’s anti-discrimination statute) even though the employee never worked one day for the company in D.C. According to the Court, the determinative factor was where the alleged discriminatory decisions took place, not where the employee may have worked during the course of his employment.

The Court reasoned that although the effects may have been felt outside of D.C., “recognizing jurisdiction under the DCHRA where actual discriminatory (and/or retaliatory) decisions by an employer are alleged to have taken place in the District is most faithful to the statutory language and purpose.”

The ramifications of this decision are quite significant for those businesses that are headquartered in the District of Columbia but maintain an office in Virginia. For one, the D.C. Human Rights Act (DCHRA) is much broader than the applicable anti-discrimination statutes in Virginia (namely Title VII) as the DCHRA prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, familial status, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, disability, source of income, and place of residence or business.

By contrast, Title VII only prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

As this is a new ruling, it remains to be seen as to whether there will be a flood of similar cases filed. My guess is that we will see quite a few of these cases over the next couple of years. Certainly, given the potential impact to Virginia businesses, this head-scratcher of a case is something we will have to keep our eye on down the road.

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