United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 20-1124 HECTOR M. JENKINS, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. HOUSING COURT DEPARTMENT, City of Boston Division, a Section of the Trial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Defendant, Appellee, JEFFREY WINIK, First Justice of The Boston Housing Court; MICHAEL NEVILLE, Chief Housing Specialist of the Boston Housing Court; PAUL BURKE, Deputy Court Administrator of the Massachusetts Housing Courts; PAULA CAREY, Chief Justice of The Massachusetts Trial Courts; HARRY SPENCE, Court Administrator of the Massachusetts Trial Courts; MARK CONLON, Human Resources Director of the Massachusetts Trial Courts; EAMONN GILL, Labor Counsel, Human Resources Department of the Massachusetts Trial Courts; ELIZABETH DAY, Assistant Labor Counsel, HR Department of the Massachusetts Trial Courts; ANTOINETTE RODNEY-CELESTINE, Administrative Attorney, HR Department of Trial Courts; TIMOTHY SULLIVAN, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Housing Courts; MAURA HEALEY, Attorney General, Defendants. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Patti B. Saris, U.S. District Judge] Before Lynch, Lipez, and Barron, Circuit Judges. Robert J. Shapiro for appellant. Michelle Liszt Sandals, Assistant Attorney General, Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, with whom Howard Meshnick, Assistant Attorney General, Massachusetts Attorney General's Office was on brief, for appellee. October 18, 2021 BARRON, Circuit Judge. Hector Jenkins was a Housing Specialist Department officer and mediator in the Boston Housing Court for over twenty-three years before he was fired from his job there in July 2016. He thereafter filed suit against a number of defendants in the District of Massachusetts in which he alleged that his termination violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The District Court dismissed Jenkins's § 1983 and Title VI claims, and Jenkins does not contest those rulings here. He challenges on appeal only the District Court's grant of summary judgment to the Housing Court Department ("Trial Court") on his Title VII retaliation claim, its dismissal of his Title VII hostile work environment claim for a failure to exhaust administrative remedies, and its denial of his leave to amend his complaint to add a claim of disability discrimination in violation of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Finding no merit to Jenkins's challenges, we affirm the rulings below. I. Jenkins, who is Black and immigrated to the United States from Costa Rica, began working as a Housing Specialist in the Boston Housing Court in 1993. In 1995, Jeffrey Winik was appointed an associate justice of the Boston Housing Court. Around 2004, the Chief Housing Specialist -- Jenkins's immediate supervisor -- resigned. By that time, Winik had become the First Justice of the - 3 - Boston Housing Court and was thus responsible for appointing the Chief Housing Specialist. Judge Winik ultimately appointed Michael Neville, a white man, to the position. Jenkins complained to superiors, court administrators, and others that the hiring process "violated court rules and constituted illegal patronage." Jenkins was administratively banned from Winik's courtroom and threatened with suspension. Jenkins also contends that Neville, who was aware …
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