Knight

MEMORANDUM **

David Knight appeals summary judgment in favor of Roadway Express, Inc. on his discrimination claim under RCW 49.60.180. We affirm.

Both parties agree that Knight’s appeal turns on whether he adduced evidence from which a rational trier of fact could find that the reason Roadway refused to let him return to dock work—that his treating physician had not released him to do so—is not the true reason for its action. Cluff v. CMX Corp., 84 Wash.App. 634 , 929 P.2d 1136, 1138 (1997) (ultimate issue is employer’s motive). The fact that Roadway relied on the substantiated opinion of the physician, instead of the opinions of other doctors who thought he could return to dock work, does not undermine its motives. Knight’s treating physician had treated Knight for seven of ten serious job-related orthopedic injuries between 1989 and 1995, and he was aware of Knight’s job classification (very heavy work). Moreover, the treating physician was aware of Knight’s physical capability requirements: that Knight could only do light work but not dock work. Neither are Roadway’s motives called into question by Knight’s suggestion that Dr. Clark believes persons with similar injuries…