Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders did not have the authority to fire Holyoke Soldiers Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh following a COVID-19 outbreak at the home, a Hampden County judge ruled Monday.
Walsh’s fate should have been decided by the home’s Board of Trustees and not by Sudders, Hampden Superior Court Judge John Ferrara wrote in his decision. Ferrara deemed Walsh’s firing invalid and void, and his ruling said the board has the authority to decide Walsh’s employment status.
“In this matter, had the Governor recommended the Board terminate Walsh, there is no reason to believe that the Board would not have complied,” Ferrara wrote. “The Board, and not the Secretary, was the proper vehicle through which the Governor could have exercised any authority to terminate the Superintendent.”
Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration placed Walsh on administrative leave following a massive COVID-19 outbreak in the facility this spring that led to the deaths of dozens of residents.
In June, on the same day the administration released an independent investigation report it sought, it fired Walsh, prompting him to sue the state.
(Copyright (c) 2024 State House News Service.