Westinghouse Electric Supply Corp. v. Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination

INTRODUCTION

This is yet another case in which an employer seeks to use the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§1001 et seq., as a shield to protect it from wrongful acts against an employee. See Pace v. Signal Technology Corp., 417 Mass 154, 160 (1994); Leyland v. Plymouth & Brockton Street Ry. Co., 44 Mass.App.Ct. 427, 431 (1998). Although this ploy often works, see e.g., Ingersoll-Rand. v. McClendon, 498 U.S. 133 (1990), Felton v. The Unisource Co., 940 F.2d 503 (9th Cir. 1991), it fails in this case.

THE DISPUTE

Westinghouse Electric Supply Corporation…