The First Circuit today rejected claims by a former employee of discrimination, retaliation and constructive discharge. The case is weighed down by a long recitation of the facts that essentially lead this writer to thank all that's holy that I didn't have to spend my time documenting the facts. Essentially, the employer did a great job showing the non-discriminatory business reasons for the actions it took and seemed to have documented very well the interactions between managers and employee. For those of you who may be Tea Party advocates you'll want to throw your tea into the Boston Harbor when you figure out how much money it must have cost the city not only to defend this case, but to continue the recalcitrant employee on the payroll while she shifted between complaining, working and using sick leave. For what it's worth, the case reflects what looked like a great job of lawyering on the part of Quincy MA. Assuming adverse employment actions (not really sure they were) and a basis to suggest discrimination (again not really sure there was), the city had the burden to come forward with non-discriminatory business based reasons for the action while the plaintiff continued to have the burden of persuasion. City met its burden. Finally, I love the court's use of a quote from an earlier constructive discharge case that only the First Circuit can put so succinctly: "The workplace is not a cocoon, and those who labor in it are expected to have reasonably thick skins--thick enough, at least, to survive the ordinary slings and arrows that workers routinely encounter in a hard, cold world." Suárez, 229 F.3d at 54 (1st Cir. 2000)." CHERKAOUI v QUINCY http://media.ca1.uscourts.gov/pdf.opinions/16-2304P-01A.pdf Charles W. Thompson, Jr. Executive Director and General Counsel International Municipal Lawyers Association, Inc. 51 Monroe Street Suite 404 Rockville, Maryland 20850 202-466-5424 x7110 Direct: 202-742-1016 Cell: 240-876-6790 Plan ahead: IMLA's Annual Seminar and Section 1983 Defense Conference - April 20- April 23, 2018 Washington, DC Support Houston! Come to our Annual Conference in beautiful downtown Houston - October 17-21, 2018 - Come to both Seminar and Conference for bundled rate at www.imla.org<http://www.imla.org/> [cid:image001.png@01D362C7.24D32E30]<https://www.facebook.com/IMLA-259977855541/>[cid:image002.png@01D362C7.24D32E30]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/15375790/> [cid:image003.png@01D362C7.24D32E30] <https://twitter.com/imlalegal> [SoundCloud Icon] <https://soundcloud.com/internationalmunicipallawyersassociation>