Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 877933 Order and Opinion.pdf

hospital staff questioned his competence due to his race. He testified that people

“didn’t think [he] was very smart . . . were amazed that [he]’d have the right answer,

or thought [he] was somehow cheating[.]” He testified that for 21 years, he was

“either considered too loud or too quiet” and that he felt he was “a person not

welcome in the space that [he] really felt was [his] professional home.” He

specifically stated that, when Jeff Sperring became CEO in 2015, he subjected

Danielson to discriminatory behavior until Danielson resigned. 2

Over the hospital’s objection, discussed below, Danielson presented

evidence that in 2007, Dr. Hendricks called Danielson the N-word when talking to

another employee. The employee reported the incident to the president of the

Seattle Children’s Foundation, Doug Picha, and then to human resources. The

report was passed on to Tom Hansen, the CEO at the time. The employee also

2 The hospital did not challenge any of this testimony as being conclusory or vague

at trial or on appeal. The only testimony that the hospital argued is conclusory is
Danielson’s testimony of the racist treatment he experienced during his residency,
which we do not rely on as substantial evidence to support Danielson’s hostile
work environment claim.
6
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eventually told Danielson himself, who brought it up with the hospital medical

director, David Fisher. Fisher changed the subject and did not address the issue.

Dr. Hendricks continued to work at the hospital until the end of 2020.

The hospital argues that the three-year statute of limitations bars the racial

slur from forming the basis for a hostile work environment. 3 But for a hostile work

environment claim, as long as one event “occurs within the filing period, the entire