Cargill v. Harvard University, 60 Mass. App. Ct. 585 (Mass. App. Div. 3/8/2004), 01-P-917.
| Citation | 60 Mass. App. Ct. 585 |
| Decision Date | 08 March 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-P-917.,01-P-917. |
| Parties | JEAN BOISE CARGILL <I>vs.</I> HARVARD UNIVERSITY. |
| Court | Massachusetts Appellate Division |
Present: RAPOZA, COWIN, & BERRY, JJ.
Anti-Discrimination Law, Employee, Handicap. Employment, Discrimination. Handicapped Persons. Practice, Civil, Summary judgment. Words, "Essential functions."
Discussion of the analytic framework used to determine the "essential functions" of a job, as that term is used in G. L. c. 151B, § 4(16), which prohibits discrimination against handicapped persons in the workplace. [594-597]
In an action alleging employment discrimination on the basis of handicap, a Superior Court judge erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant employer, where the record revealed sharply conflicting evidence whether certain duties were "essential functions" of the plaintiff's job, thereby presenting genuine issues of material fact for trial [597-603], and where the defendant employer failed to establish that the accommodation proposed by the plaintiff would cause undue hardship or be otherwise unreasonable [603-604].
This court concluded that a plaintiff alleging employment discrimination on the basis of handicap in violation of G. L. c. 151B, § 4(16), could not, so long as her c. 151B claim remained viable, pursue a remedy under G. L. c. 93, § 103, the Massachusetts Equal Rights Act. [604]
CIVIL ACTION commenced in the Superior Court Department on June 27, 1997.
The case was heard by Herman J. Smith, Jr., J., on a motion for summary judgment, and motions for reconsideration were heard by him.
Betsy L. Ehrenberg for the plaintiff.
David C. Casey (James M. Hankins with him) for the defendant.
The central contested question in this appeal requires consideration of the legal standards and evidentiary criteria for determining the "essential functions" of a job as that term is
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