First Circuit Says Performance Plans Aren’t Automatically Adverse Actions

Overview

• Walsh v. HNTB, decided March 13, 2026, upheld summary judgment for the employer after the court found the employee’s performance plan did not change her working conditions.
• The panel rejected a blanket rule for performance improvement plans and said the question is fact-specific to each plan and job.
• The court explained a plan may be adverse when it adds new or heavier tasks, cuts pay, changes title, blocks transfers, or hurts promotion chances.
• The constructive discharge claim failed because alleged remarks and the plan itself did not create conditions that would force a reasonable person to quit and there was no sign she faced imminent firing.
• The decision applies in the First Circuit and clarifies how Muldrow’s lower bar—harm that leaves a worker worse off—still requires proof of a concrete hit to terms or conditions of employment.