Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — D2 43703-1-II Published Opinion.pdf

Gulf War combat veteran motivated Martinez' s harassing conduct and condoning of others'

harassing conduct — including other employees bullying Alonso and vandalizing his work

station — satisfying the second element in establishing a prima facie hostile work environment

claim.

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No. 43703 -1 - II

Also, Alonso offered evidence that Martinez and others subjected Alonso to racially

derogatory language. For example, Alonso testified in his deposition that Martinez characterized

Alonso as " not a real Mexican" based on Alonso' s eating habits. CP at 114. Alonso also

testified that Martinez and other coworkers referred to Mexicans as " Spics." CP at 115. Buechel

declared that a coworker said Alonso spoke like a " ghetto Hispanic "; and, Zuniga contrasted his

own speech with Alonso' s, saying that Zuniga spoke " correct English," unlike Alonso. CP at

144, 145. Buechel also recalled a time that Martinez said Alonso " didn' t speak good English."

CP at 144. A jury could reasonably conclude that subjecting Alonso to derogatory racial name-

calling was motivated by racial or ethnic reasons and that comments touching on Alonso' s
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English skills implied racial and ethnic motivations based on Alonso' s Mexican heritage.

Moreover, Alonso, hampered by a speech impediment, offered evidence that he was the

regular victim of open mocking for his speech. When a coworker reminded Martinez that

Alonso suffered from a speech impediment, an apparent plea for compassion, Martinez ignored

her. So here, we can reasonably infer that the mocking of Alonso' s speech was at least partially

motivated by his speech impediment, a disability, which also satisfied the second element in