Ex-Massachusetts State Police trooper sues Harvard for not being promoted ‘because of his age’

Yet another veteran cop is suing Harvard University for age discrimination.

Harvard Police Sgt. Martin Gaughan — a longtime Mass State Police trooper — has filed a federal lawsuit against Harvard University and the police department’s chief.

The 60-year-old Walpole man claims that he was passed over for promotions with the Harvard Police force due to his older age, violating discrimination laws.

“Our case alleges that Mr. Gaughan was not promoted to Lieutenant or Captain by Harvard because of his age, there is no other legitimate non-discriminatory reason,” his lawyer Sarah Burger, of Burger Law Group PLLC, told the Herald.

Gaughan was with Massachusetts State Police for 31 years, during which he was a trooper, sergeant and lieutenant.

His annual pension is now $114,038, which breaks down to $9,503 a month, according to state pension records.

“Mr. Gaughan came to Harvard in 2020 after retiring as a Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant with thirty-one years of total law enforcement experience,” Burger said.

When Gaughan joined the Harvard Police force, he was assigned to the patrol division and supervised officers.

He “consistently received praise for his work performance, and received salary bonuses in excess of the standard bonus plan amounts,” the lawsuit reads.

Then the police chief retired in 2020, and a new chief, Victor Clay, took over in 2021.

Gaughan alleges that Clay started excluding him from discussions and planning about officers assigned to his shift.

Then that December, Clay announced that the police department was restructuring, with four new captain positions. Gaughan applied for a captain role.

He “believed that he performed well during the interview process and answered all of the panel’s inquiries professionally and competently,” the lawsuit reads.

Gaughan was not selected for the captain role.

“All four candidates were younger and less experienced than Sergeant Gaughan,” the lawsuit states.

“Sergeant Gaughan believes that in failing to promote him to Captain, Harvard and Chief Clay acted with discriminatory animus and bias against Gaughan because of his age…” the lawsuit reads.

Gaughan then applied for a lieutenant position.

Meanwhile, he was told that Clay made “derogatory, disparaging and ridiculing comments” about Gaughan during a meeting with officers, all who were subordinate to Gaughan, according to the lawsuit.

He did not end up receiving the lieutenant role. Gaughan again says he was more qualified than the candidates who became lieutenants.

“Gaughan suffered and continues to suffer lost wages, lost benefits, harm to his reputation, emotional distress, attorney’s fees and costs and interest,” the lawsuit reads.

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A spokesperson for Harvard University declined to comment about the lawsuit.

A few months ago, a longtime Boston cop claimed he was discriminated against while he was with the Harvard Police force. Cohasset man Robert Harrington filed a federal age discrimination lawsuit against Harvard. Gaughan’s action follows suit.

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