A Review of MCAD Public Hearings: Suggestions for Practice

Abstract

Public hearing decisions from the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) offer public administrators, private employers, and researchers actionable information. This article analyzes the outcomes of these decisions over a 16-year period (2002–2018). Key findings are that private-sector employers were significantly more likely to lose at hearings than public-sector employers and that this gap appeared to result largely from differences in organizational size and gender-based claims. Smaller companies, in particular, lost at hearings significantly more than larger organizations in both sectors. Additional findings are that employers who participated in an interactive process were significantly more likely to prevail in reasonable accommodation disability cases and that appeals were rarely overturned by the MCAD’s Full Commission. Implications for administrators and human resource managers are discussed.