Most claims against AG's office in wrongful termination suit to move forward
SPRINGFIELD — Most claims made in a wrongful termination suit alleging age discrimination and retaliation within the state Attorney General's Office will continue, according to court documents.
Last August, Bart Q. Hollander, a former employee with the AG's office, filed a lawsuit against 10 of his former employers and colleagues, alleging that he was discriminated and retaliated against because of his age and for speaking out. He also claims he was wrongfully terminated.
One of the named defendants in the lawsuit is prosecutor Amy Karangekis, who was nominated to be a judge for the Massachusetts Superior Court late last month.
Karangekis was confirmed by the Governor's Council, the eight-member elected body that confirms judicial nominations at a hearing earlier this month, according to Karissa Hand, the spokesperson for Gov. Maura Healey.
She will be sworn in on June 30.
Hollander was a former senior employee of the Springfield Regional Office of the AG's office, serving in two roles — regional chief of the office and senior trial counsel — over the course of a decade between 2013 and 2023, according to his complaint.
He made 13 claims against his former employers in the civil complaint, including coercion and intimidation, aiding and abetting, and deprivation of his First Amendment rights.
Hampshire Superior Court Judge Bertha D. Josephson upheld six of those claims, and partially maintained a seventh claim in a memorandum an order filed June 6.
The claim that was partially upheld was a state violation. The federal law violation counterpart was dismissed. Josephson also dismissed Hollander's claims of his First Amendment rights being violated.
To have a successful age discrimination claim, Hollander must prove that he was over 40 and was harmed by discrimination, according to Josephson's memorandum and order.
The Supreme Judicial Court has held that age disparities of less than five years are 'too insignificant,' the memorandum and order said. Hollander, who was 54 when he was terminated, claims he was replaced by someone about 22 years younger. A claim, the judge said, is sufficient.
Hollander states that he complained about age-based discrimination and/or retaliation for complaining about the discrimination on five specific occasions.
Inferences Hollander made about certain statements he alleged his employers said to him referred to 'his longevity at his job and, inferentially, his age,' the memorandum said.
The AG's office and 10 employees named in the complaint in February filed a motion to dismiss Hollander's allegations that he was retaliated against; Josephson denied the motion.
Hollander claimed that other than Liza Tran, the primary defendant, the other nine defendants each played a role in aiding and abetting the alleged discriminatory statements based on his age.
'Here, the plaintiff has adequately alleged that his employment was terminated because of his age,' the judge said about specific allegations against two of the defendants, AG Andrea Joy Campbell and her first assistant, Patrick Moore.
Hollander alleges Campbell and Moore received an email from Hollander where he complained of Tran's and others' discriminatory and retaliatory conduct, and that they decided to terminate his employment as a result.
The only claim that was wholly dismissed was Hollander's allegation that his First Amendment rights were infringed upon when he spoke out about the alleged discrimination as a public employee.
To successfully argue the First Amendment retaliation claim as a public employee, Hollander must establish that he was 'speaking as a citizen on a matter of public concern,' that his interests in commenting on matters of public concern outweighed his employer's interest in its efficiency in performic public services through its employees, and that what he said was a 'substantial or motivating factor in the adverse employment decision,' the memorandum and order said.
The defendants must now submit discovery documents as the case moves forward.
Campbell, the attorney general, and Moore, her first assistant attorney general, 'face personal liability' for Hollander's wrongful termination claim, according to an emailed statement from Tim Kotfila, the Springfield attorney representing Hollander.
'The (AG's office) and these 10 individual defendants have dodged and delayed properly-served discovery for nine months, and now that Mr. Hollander will receive discovery responses from the defendants, his case is going to strengthen with every passing day,' the statement continued.
The AG's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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