In a victory for GLAD, the Rhode Island Human Rights Commission found probable cause to believe that sexual orientation discrimination had occurred when a Rhode Island teacher was denied family leave benefits to care for her partner, despite a collective bargaining agreement that extends leave to immediate family or “additional persons in the immediate household.”  The teacher had filed the discrimination complaint with the RI Human Rights Commission in June 2005.  The defendant School Department has now exercised its right to remove the matter to the Rhode Island trial court, and we will continue to bring our discrimination claim in this forum.

Update: On October 24, 2008, GLAD filed a motion for summary judgment in Rhode Island Superior Court.  A hearing is scheduled for March 3, 2009.