Covid Deadline Extensions Don’t Apply to Massachusetts Agencies

The Covid-era extensions Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court issued for civil cases did not apply to administrative agencies, the justices said in an opinion Tuesday.

A former employee of a fiber optics provider argued that the Supreme Judicial Court’s tolling orders during the pandemic applied to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, where he filed an untimely complaint against his employer alleging sexual harassment and retaliation.

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination is “an executive branch agency, not a court of inferior jurisdiction,” so it was not covered by tolling orders, the opinion said. A lower court was right to dismiss those claims ...