Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination

Feb 14th, 2020

Jan 3rd, 2020

Nov 8th, 2019

My experience as it relates to the MCAD pertains to a housing "discrimination" issue; I was on the landlord side. Make no mistake: Federal and State Fair Housing Laws were written with noble purpose, as were the institutions that were created to enforce said laws. There was, and still is, a need for institutions to protect individuals rights and advocate on behalf of protected classes. Unfortunately, protective institutions such as the MCAD have deteriorated from their once valiant role as a shield to defend wronged individuals into a battleaxe, of sorts, that may is wielded to unjustly crush innocent individuals and organizations. The interactions I had with the MCAD, and subsequently the AG's Office, were extensive - both parties were equally unfair, disingenuous, and do not have any qualms about holding double standards. This review is already longer than I intended, but I can get my point across efficiently by highlighting the first in-person interaction I had with the MCAD which was dubbed: "mediation." The written correspondence and verbal communication between MCAD and my firm prior to the scheduled mediation session indicated that the purpose of the mediation meeting was to provide both parties an equal opportunity to present their side to the MCAD mediator. After both sides were heard, all parties were to work towards an equitable solution. Here is how the "mediation" meeting actually went down: my firm arrived on time for the meeting. The "aggrieved" party was an hour and a quarter late. Once the "aggrieved" party arrived we were ushered into a meeting room where a "mediator" announced that they would independently listen to both parties versions of the topic before working towards a solution to the issue on hand. I am not sure why we were separated at this point, but that really is not a huge issue. The mediator dismissed us from the room after she indicated she wanted to hear to our tenant's complaint first. After about 10 minutes or so of sitting outside the conference room, in a hallway, the mediator emerged from her meeting with our tenant, closed the conference room door, pulled up a chair across from my team and said the following (verbatim): "I listened to _____________'s position. How much are you willing to compensate ___________?" We were not afforded an opportunity to give our position, present the stack of evidence we prepared, refute any claims made by the tenant, or avail ourselves to any other typical component of an actual mediation session. At this point we were not even aware that any type of compensation was being discussed - for what purpose? When we indicated that no discrimination occurred therefor we we not willing to compensate this individual, it was obvious that our time with the mediator expired because they basically said "are you sure?", excused themselves from us and went back into the conference room. Our time with the mediator could not have exceed 90 seconds. It is not worth outlining the remaining experience because it rots into something far more unjust, disconcerting, and gross. The public MUST understand that these, once critical, institutions play a major role in perpetuating, what amounts to, massive fraud and scams. While I am sure that the individuals who work for the MCAD do not actively devise plans on how to harm law abiding citizens and organizations, they CERTAINLY do so by not following just processes that our government was founded on. Government and quasi-government institutions which hold the power to severely penalize (financial or otherwise) may NOT operate with double standards nor may they discount hard facts and tangible evidence in favor of anecdotes and lies. Landlords and business owners who DO NOT discriminate, attend fair housing or workplace trainings regularly, self assess for exposures, and are otherwise in great standing with the community and those that they serve must be afraid, very afraid, about being scammed by someone who knows how to work the system (MCAD/AG Healey) for their financial gain.
Nov 10th, 2020