Man Gets Benefits for Taking Care of Dying Partner

A county court judge has ruled that a Washington gay man who left his job to care for his dying partner is entitled to unemployment benefits.
In a landmark ruling, Thurston County judge Richard Hicks said that under state employment law a worker may receive benefits if he leaves for good cause. The law lists 11 examples including death, illness or disability of the workers’ “immediate family.”
“The Employment Security Act, read in its entirety, includes ’stable domestic partnerships’ within the definition of ‘immediate family’” under two state laws, Hicks said in his written ruling.
The case involved Dean Lake, who quit his job to care for Tony Sisneros, his partner of 12 years. Sisneros died of brain cancer in September 2007.
Lake used up all of his sick leave time caring for Sisneros and quit his job to care for the dying man.
Employment Security refused Lake’s application for benefits and he went to court.
The Northwest Women’s Law Center’s Unemployment Law Project argued that Lake and Sisneros were in a committed relationship and shared property and bank accounts.
In his ruling, Hick returned the file back to Employment Security for payment of the back benefits and legal fees.
The ruling ruling is the first in Washington state to address the issue of same-sex domestic partners, but ES said the ruling is not necessarily binding on other cases.