Where two plaintiff firefighters filed a complaint alleging racial and religious discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment, a jury verdict for the defendants should be upheld despite the plaintiffs’ argument that the trial court made multiple errors that misled and misinformed the jury.

“[The plaintiffs] argue that the court erred when it (1) failed to answer a question posed by the jury during its deliberations, (2) failed to provide a limiting instruction regarding the admission into evidence of decisions by the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission, (3) failed to give a limiting instruction clarifying that the social media comments at issue were not protected by the First Amendment and allowed defendants to improperly assert a First Amendment defense, and (4) improperly instructed the jury on employer liability for harassment committed by supervisors under MGL Chapter 151B. …

“In summary, we find no abuse of discretion in the court’s handling of the question posed by the jury or its refusal to provide plaintiffs’ proposed limiting instruction on how the jury should consider the Civil Service decisions. We find no plain error in the court’s decision against giving a limiting instruction stating that the challenged [Springfield Fire Department (SFD)] speech was not protected by the First Amendment. Finally, we find no reversible legal error in the instruction the court gave to the jury on employer liability under MGL Chapter 151B. We accordingly affirm...

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