Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B Unlawful Discrimination Because of Race, Color, Religious Creed, National Origin, Ancestry, or Sex

Massachusetts General Laws chapter 151B establishes the comprehensive civil rights statutory infrastructure prohibiting sex and gender based discrimination across employment, labor organizations, housing, credit, and related economic relationships, and provides enforcement through the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD). Section 4 makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate in hiring, compensation, terms, or conditions of employment based on sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or related conditions, including lactation, and separately requires reasonable accommodations for pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions through a good faith interactive process absent undue hardship, while forbidding retaliation, forced leave, or denial of opportunity based on accommodation needs. The statute expressly defines sexual harassment as a form of unlawful discrimination in employment and housing, prohibiting intimidation, coercion, or interference with protected rights, and extends liability to individuals who aid or abet discriminatory conduct. It also bars discriminatory job advertisements and hiring practices, restricts labor organizations from sex-based exclusion or unequal treatment, and prohibits discrimination and sexual harassment in housing transactions, housing advertisements, and access to residential accommodations, subject to limited statutory exemptions. Chapter 151B also prohibits sex- and gender-based discrimination in credit and financial services and provides remedies for resulting harm. Section 5 sets out the administrative enforcement system, authorizing aggrieved persons, the attorney general, or the commission to file complaints within three hundred days, empowering MCAD to investigate, seek injunctive relief, order affirmative remedies and/or damages, impose penalties, and conduct hearings, while preserving the availability of parallel statutory remedies where they may apply.