The SJC Complicates Summary Judgment Standard In Discrimination Cases

Late last month, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision addressing a plaintiff's evidentiary burden in employment discrimination cases brought under the Massachusetts anti-discrimination law, Chapter 151B.  Breaking with precedent under federal anti-discrimination law, the SJC held in Bulwer v. Mount Auburn Hospital that a plaintiff employee can defeat a motion for summary judgment by offering evidence that the defendant employer's stated reason for its allegedly discriminatory action was false.  In other words, an employee does not have to offer evidence showing that the true reason for the employer's action was in fact unlawful discrimination. The decision further confuses the burdens of proof at play in discrimination cases and has the potential to make summary judgment motions harder for employers to win.