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Writing for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, David Henderson Analyzes How Employer Adverse Actions Can Seem Pretextual
Print PDFDavid C. Henderson, a partner in Nutter’s Litigation Department and a member of the firm’s Labor, Employment and Benefits practice group, authored an article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly that analyzed how an employee claiming employment discrimination or retaliation under Massachusetts state law frequently can defeat the employer’s summary judgment motion merely by providing evidence, at a critical phase of analysis, from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the employer’s stated reasons for an adverse action are false and therefore “pretext.” In the article, “Decisions explain how employer adverse actions can seem pretextual,” David points out that the result of “pretext only” is considerably more favorable to employees than federal law. It therefore is significant that, in the first half of this year, the Supreme Judicial Court issued two major opinions explaining how employer behavior can establish such pretext and thereby be enough by itself to ensure that an adverse claim will be able to reach a jury.