Younker v. Department of Transitional Assistance (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-067-14)

NOTICE:  All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.  If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750;  (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us       13‑P‑855                                        Appeals Court   DIANE M. YOUNKER  vs.  DEPARTMENT OF TRANSITIONAL ASSISTANCE.     No. 13‑P‑855. Suffolk.     January 15, 2014.  ‑  June 16, 2014. Present:  Cypher, Rubin, & Hines, JJ.     Anti-Discrimination Law, Age, Prima facie case.  Employment, Discrimination, Demotion, Constructive discharge.  Department of Transitional Assistance.  Constitutional Law, Freedom of association.  Practice, Civil, Summary judgment, Prima facie case.       Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on December 31, 2010.   The case was heard by Bonnie H. MacLeod, J., on a motion for summary judgment.     Paul L. Nevins for the plaintiff. Kenneth Y. Lee, Assistant Attorney General, for the defendant.   RUBIN, J.  The plaintiff, Diane M. Younker, appeals from a summary judgment on her claims for violation of her constitutional right of association and for age discrimination under G. L. c. 151B, §§ 4(1C) & 9.  We reverse in part.   1.  Age discrimination.  The plaintiff was employed by the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) for forty-two years.  She was repeatedly promoted during her long tenure at the agency, rising from her initial post as a social worker to become the director of the Davis Square office in Somerville.  In 2007, when the Davis Square and Revere offices were merged, she was thought sufficiently qualified to be appointed director of the newly combined office in Revere.  The former director of the Revere office became her assistant director. In the spring of 2009, shortly after the appointment of Julia Kehoe as commissioner of the DTA, the plaintiff was informed in a telephone call from John Augeri, DTA assistant commissioner of field operations, that she was being demoted.  The director of the Framingham office, Paul Sutliff, was made director of the Revere office, while the plaintiff would be made assistant director.  Concluding that her demotion amounted to constructive termination, the plaintiff resigned the following month. At the time of the demotion, the plaintiff was seventy years old.  Sutliff was fifty-three.  The plaintiff stated in her affidavit, and the defendant does not dispute, that at the time of her demotion she was not told any reason for her removal from the directorship of the Revere office.  She insisted upon being given notice of the demotion in writing and was sent a letter on April 7, 2009, which provided written confirmation of the reassignment but again failed to […]

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