Olympia judges rules for same-sex benefits

Published 9:26 am Thursday, September 18, 2008

OLYMPIA — A judge in Olympia has ruled in favor of unemployment benefits in a case involving same-sex partners.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks ruled Friday that benefits were owed to Dean Lake who quit his job to care for his dying partner, Tony Sisneros.

State law lets a worker receive benefits after leaving a job because of illness, disability or death in the immediate family.

The judge found that Lake’s family included Sisneros, who died in September 2007 of brain cancer.

An Employment Security spokesman, Mark Varadian, says the ruling doesn’t apply to others and the agency will look at similar applications on a case-by-case basis.

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Information from: The Olympian, http://www.theolympian.com