The Commissioners of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination recently re-evaluated and modified their procedures for conducting investigations in discrimination claims in Massachusetts. The new Standing Order requires that each recommendation for probable cause or lack of probable cause be reviewed by an agency attorney.
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Superior Court Judge Raymond Brassard recently ruled that negative or stereotypical comments about motherhood may support a gender discrimination claim. The plaintiff employee alleged that employees with less experience, and no young children at home, were promoted ahead of her.
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Chief Justice Marshall decided, in Gasior v. Massachusetts General Hospital, that a claim that an employee was wrongfully dismissed in violation of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B, § 4(16) survives the plaintiff’s death, as do all of the remedies available to the employee under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B.
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U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris recently ruled that Massachusetts fire departments had used a discriminatory hiring exam in 2002 and 2004. The exam tested material that had little to do with firefighting and had a discriminatory effect against minority applicants. Four minorities from Lynn filed the lawsuit, which resulted in about 50 minorities, mostly from Boston, being entitled to job offers and back pay from Massachusetts fire departments.