The Appeals Court held that a police officer who reported harassment by a coworker could not bring a retaliation claim under G.L. c. 151B, because he did not show any material change in his working conditions. A failed transfer to a lower-paying job and a resignation after he transferred to another department were not enough. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
A city police officer was assigned to a regional drug task force. In 2018 he reported to his chiefs that another officer had directed derogatory insults at him at a police ball the year before. The department investigated and suspended the coworker for three days, and when the officer raised concerns that the coworker was talking about the suspension, a deputy chief ordered the coworker to stop. A captain later told the officer he would have to work with the coworker more often, but that never happened. The officer sought a lateral transfer to another town’s police department, which did not hire him; that job would have been a junior patrol position with lower pay. In 2020 he resigned after receiving a transfer to a third department, then sued the city and supervisors for retaliation and aiding and abetting. The Superior Court granted summary judgment for the defendants.
What the court decided
In Oliveira v. City of New Bedford, No. 25-P-177 (Mass. App. Ct. May 7, 2026) (Rule 23.0 decision), the Appeals Court affirmed.
G.L. c. 151B, § 4 (4), makes it unlawful to punish someone for opposing discrimination or filing a complaint. To get past summary judgment, the employee must show protected conduct, an adverse action, and a causal link between the two. Everyone agreed that reporting the harassment was protected conduct. The case turned on the second element.
What an adverse action is. An adverse employment action is a material effect on the terms, conditions or privileges of the job, not a trivial one. It must affect objective parts of the work environment. King v. Boston, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 460 (2008). Denying a lateral transfer can qualify if the job you wanted was materially better, for example with more chance for overtime pay. Yee v. Massachusetts State Police, 481 Mass. 290 (2019).
The lost transfer. Here the other department’s job would have moved the officer from detective to junior patrolman, with lower pay and fewer opportunities. Not getting it caused him no material disadvantage. The trial judge also found no admissible evidence for his belief that someone in his department badmouthed him to the other town.
Constructive discharge. A resignation counts as a firing only if the employer made conditions so difficult that they were objectively intolerable. GTE Prods. Corp. v. Stewart, 421 Mass. 22 (1995). The court found that bar was not met. Supervisors had ordered the coworker to stop discussing the matter, the officer was never actually assigned to work with him, and the chief followed up on the officer’s concern about the other town.
Aiding and abetting. A claim under G.L. c. 151B, § 4 (5), is entirely derivative of the underlying claim. Abramian v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 432 Mass. 107 (2000). With no retaliation claim, the aiding and abetting claims against the supervisors failed too.
The court did not decide the employer’s argument, raised for the first time on appeal, that some events fell outside the 300-day filing period in G.L. c. 151B, § 5, because whether conduct was continuing was a disputed fact.
What this means for you
The employer won this case, and the lesson is practical. Retaliation law protects you when your employer does something that materially changes your job after you complain: a firing, a demotion, a pay cut, lost overtime, worse assignments, or a transfer denial when the job you wanted was objectively better. It does not cover every slight, worry or threat that never came true.
Notice what helped the employer here. It investigated, disciplined the coworker, and responded to each follow-up concern. When an employer does those things, a constructive discharge claim becomes much harder. If you resign, the conditions must be objectively intolerable, not just uncomfortable.
Evidence matters most. A belief that someone spoke badly about you, without proof, will not carry a claim past summary judgment.
What to do now
- Report harassment or discrimination in writing and keep a copy.
- Keep a dated log of every change after you complain: schedules, assignments, pay, overtime, discipline and evaluations.
- If you are denied a transfer or promotion, write down how the job you wanted was better in pay, hours or opportunity.
- Talk to a lawyer before you resign. Quitting can weaken a claim unless conditions are truly intolerable.
- Watch the deadline. A complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination generally must be filed within 300 days.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Deadlines for discrimination and employment claims can be short.
