Opinion ID: 198793
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The State-Law Claim.

Text: 73 We need not separately discuss the merits of the appellants' state-law claim. The McDonnell Douglas framework applies to disparate treatment claims brought under Chapter 151B, but the appellants' burden is somewhat lighter in one respect. While federal law requires a showing of pretext plus [racial] animus, the Massachusetts courts appear, at the third step of the pavane, to require a claimant to show only pretext. Mullin, 164 F.3d at 699 (citing Blare v. Husky Injection Molding Sys. Boston, Inc., 646 N.E.2d 111, 116-17 (Mass. 1995)). We already have concluded that genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether Costa Bros.'s stated reasons for its actions are a pretext for discrimination. See supra Part III(C). A fortiori, we must reach the same conclusion with respect to the appellants' state-law claim. See Brennan v. GTE Gov't Sys. Corp., 150 F.3d 21, 26-27 (1st Cir. 1998).