DISCRIMINATION INVOLVES MORE THAN RACE

PROBABLE CAUSE FOUND BY MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION (MCAD) IN THREE CLAIMS

AGE DISCRIMINATION: MCAD Commissioner Cynthia Tucker found probable cause that the Town of Southwick Board of Selectmen discriminated against Lt. David Ricardi by refusing to promote him to police chief because he was 53 years old and had had a heart attack some years earlier. She also found probable cause that the Town retaliated against him for failing to hire him a second time after he filed his MCAD complaint.

SEX/SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION: After Lisa Lippiello filed a complaint for having been rejected for the same police chief job, MCAD Commissioner Cynthia Tucker found probable cause that the Town of Southwick Board of Selectmen discriminated against her because of her sex and because of her sexual orientation, which Lippiello claimed was motivated by her “androgynous appearance.”

SEXUAL HARASSMENT: MCAD Commissioner Cynthia Tucker found probable cause that Dr. Henry D. Hagelauer, Executive Director of GB Wells Human Services Center in Harrington Memorial Hospital, sexually harassed Denise Romero who worked for him. Commissioner Tucker also found probable cause that Ms. Romero was forced to leave her job after the hospital failed to respond to her complaints of sexual harassment. According to an MCAD news release, Ms. Romero stated in her complaint that Dr. Hagelauer’s behavior included “licking her hand, rubbing her back, and stroking her buttocks… (and he) gave her a sexually inappropriate card and gift… (and) regularly made inappropriate comments and on a few occasions showed her e-mails of nude women.”

A finding of probable cause is not a finding of guilt but only a finding that there are sufficient factual disputes to justify a trial on the merits.

MCAD SETTLES HANDICAP DISCRIMINATION CLAIM AGAINST THE TOWN OF ASHBY

MCAD Commissioner Cynthia Tucker found probable cause that the Town of Ashby had discriminated against former police dispatcher, Dona Sue LaRue, who claimed that she was placed on unpaid leave and later terminated because of a non-epileptic seizure condition that the Town claimed would not allow her to perform the essential functions of her job of responding to all emergency calls even though she produced a note from her doctor saying that she could return to work. The Town agreed to pay Ms. LaRue $40,000.00 and she agreed not to seek reinstatement to the position. n