Employment – Harassment – Limitations Period

An employee’s claim for sexual harassment and discrimination under G. L. c. 151B, section 9 must be brought within three years of the alleged misconduct.  This limitations period may be extended beyond the onset of the objectionable conduct if the statutory violations involved continue to occur and remain ongoing.  In the Sansoucy case, the employee alleged that her supervisors aided and abetted a colleague who sexually harassed her at work.  The Appeals Court ruled that the supervisor’s mere investigation of these complaints was at most “harassment” of a non-sexual nature and did not constitute a related “anchoring event” sufficient to permit an extension of the limitations period under the continuing violation doctrine.  

Sansoucy v. Southcoast Health Systems, Inc.,  84 Mass. App. Ct. 1114 (October 8, 2013).