What is retaliation under Massachusetts employment law?

Pursuant to Massachusetts law, the word retaliation is defined as; An employer who takes adverse action against an employee as a result of the employee engaging in some form of protected activity. Retaliation is a separate claim from discrimination, it can be found in the Massachusetts General Laws in chapter 151B. The word retaliation is not actually used in law, however, courts commonly use the word as shorthand for the word anti-discrimination statutes. Anti-retaliation laws allow for liability against individuals and not just employers.

Under Massachusetts Statute 151B, there are two different subsections that prohibit unlawful retaliation and they are §4(4) and §4(4A). §4(4) states; “for any person, employing labor organization, or employment agency to discharge, expel, or otherwise discriminate against any person because he or she has opposed any practice prohibited under this chapter or because he or she has filed a complaint, tried, assisted in any proceeding under section five of MGL 151B §4(4).” MGL 151B §4(4A) states that; “to any person who coerces, intimidates, threatens or interferes with another person in the exercise or enjoyment of any right granted or protected by this chapter, or who coerces, intimidates, threatens or interferes with such other person for having aided or encouraged any another person in the exercise or enjoyment of any of those rights.

Under Section 8.30 of mass practice, it states that to establish a case of retaliation, the plaintiff must show that he/she engaged in legally protected conduct and suffered an adverse employment action, and that there was a causal connection between the legally protected conduct and the adverse employment action. For one to be successful in a relationship claim, he must prove the following;

1. The plaintiff must prove that they reasonably and in good faith believed their employer unfairly discriminated.
2. That you acted reasonably in response to this belief.
3. That the employer’s desire to retaliate was your determining factor in taking an adverse employment action.

In order for the plaintiff to prove the first part of his retaliation case, he must show that he engaged in an act protected by chapter 151B, section 4(4), and those who have objected to any practice prohibited by MGL c. 151B and those who file complaints or cooperate in any proceeding before the MCAD (Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination) are known as “opposition” and “participation” clauses.

Application of the opposition clause may be misleading because the employee must allege that the retaliatory conduct was due to the employee’s opposition to practices prohibited under MGL c. 151B.

The participation clause refers to MCAD procedures and c.151B does not cover participation in internal discrimination investigations unless participation amounts to protected opposition, such as assisting or encouraging another employee in exercising that employee’s rights. employee.