On December 17, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that an employee discharged for submitting a written rebuttal to his employer in response to the placement of negative information in his personnel file can state a claim against the employer for wrongful termination in violation of public policy.
In Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc., No. SJC-13117, 2021 WL 5990887 (Mass. December 17, 2021), the Commonwealth’s highest court reversed a trial court’s determination (which an intermediate appellate court had upheld) that although the plaintiff-employee had a statutory right to submit a rebuttal, his right to do so “was ‘not a sufficiently important public policy’ to support” a wrongful termination claim. The court held that an employer that discharges an employee simply for exercising that right violates the public policy exception to the at-will employment doctrine. The decision clarifies that an employment right guaranteed by statute need not be “important” to qualify for protection, and that employers may want to be particularly cautious when deciding whether to discharge employees who arguably have exercised such rights.
The Massachusetts legislature has enacted a personnel records statute (Mass. G.L. c. 149, § 52C) that requires employers to “notify an employee within [ten] days of the employer placing in the employee’s personnel record any information … that … negatively affect[s] the employee’s...
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