In the first Massachusetts jury verdict to uphold a retaliation claim under the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (“PFML”), a Suffolk Superior Court jury ordered Wayfair to pay approximately $4.75 million to its former employee. While the employee alleged that her termination stemmed from both discrimination based on age and retaliation against her use of PFML and her complaint of age discrimination, the jury only upheld the PFML and complaint-based retaliation claim.
The employee, a senior manager at Wayfair, took an extended medical leave under the PFML law. After returning to work, she was placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP) and later terminated. Wayfair argued that the dismissal resulted from documented performance problems that predated her leave. However, the jury concluded that the company’s actions constituted unlawful retaliation connected to her use of PFML as well as to her complaint of age discrimination.
The jury in this case was presented with a unique feature of the PFML law: when an employer takes adverse action against an employee within six months of the employee’s return from PFML, the law creates a presumption of retaliation. In that situation, the employer—not the employee—must overcome the presumption by presenting “clear and convincing” evidence that the action was justified and unrelated to the leave. This is a significantly higher burden than the standard required to overcome a discrimination claim and a federal Family and...
WASHINGTON, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- This release is issued by King & Spalding: The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that New York Packaging II LLC, doing business as Redi-Bag USA,...