## Facts

- Tri-County Youth Programs, Inc., a nonprofit, operated a residential facility for emotionally troubled adolescents.
- Denise Y. Lawrie worked as a shift manager at the facility.
- While transporting two clients in a company van, Lawrie was sexually assaulted by a fourteen-year-old male client who grabbed her breasts.
- Lawrie promptly reported the incident to Tri-County supervisors and, without employer assistance, reported it to police and pursued charges.
- The client was arrested and temporarily removed; Lawrie was later told the client would probably return to the facility with a stay-away order.
- A juvenile court adjudicated the client delinquent and ordered him to stay away from and have no contact with Lawrie.
- The same day, with Tri-County’s assent, the client was returned to the residential facility where Lawrie worked.
- Lawrie resigned, citing Tri-County’s handling of the assault and the working conditions created by the client’s return; Tri-County made the resignation effective immediately.
- Lawrie sought unemployment benefits; an initial denial was reversed by the agency board, which found she quit voluntarily for good cause attributable to Tri-County due to sexual harassment and an intimidating, humiliating, and sexually offensive work environment; the District Court affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether Lawrie left employment “voluntarily for good cause attributable to the employing unit” under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151A, § 25(e) when she resigned after a client’s sexual assault and the employer assented to the client’s return to her work site.

## Decision

- The Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed the judgment upholding the agency’s award of unemployment benefits.
- The court held substantial evidence supported the board’s finding that Lawrie quit voluntarily but for good cause attributable to Tri-County.
- The employer’s assent to returning the assailant to the same facility, despite the stay-away order, supported the conclusion that the employer created an intimidating, humiliating, and sexually offensive work environment.

## Legal Principles

- Under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151A, § 25(e), an employee who leaves work voluntarily is not disqualified from benefits if the separation was for good cause attributable to the employer.
- Appellate review of the agency decision is limited to whether findings are supported by substantial evidence and whether correct legal standards were applied.
- Workplace conditions stemming from sexual harassment, including by nonemployees, can constitute good cause attributable to the employer when the employer’s actions or omissions materially contribute to an objectively intolerable environment that would compel a reasonable employee to resign.
- A separation may be treated as voluntary for unemployment purposes while still being supported by circumstances functionally akin to a constructive discharge.

## Conclusion

The court upheld unemployment benefits because the employer’s response to a client’s sexual assault—particularly assenting to the assailant’s return to the same facility despite a no-contact order—supported the agency’s finding that the employee resigned voluntarily for good cause attributable to the employer under § 25(e).


Tri-County Youth Programs, Inc. v. Acting Deputy Dir. of the Div. of Emp. & Training, 54 Mass. App. Ct. 405, 765 N.E.2d 810 (2002)