SB 532 - This act modifies the causation standard which is the basis for a discriminatory employment practice under Missouri's human rights law. For the purposes of human rights violations for discriminatory employment practices, the act changes the definition of "discrimination" from "unfair treatment based on" race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, disability, or familial status to "adverse actions motivated by" such factors.
Currently the definition of "employer" includes persons directly acting in the interest of an employer. The act removes such individuals from the definition.
The act supplants the current nomenclature describing the standard for discrimination. Currently, violations occur when an individual discriminates "because of" race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, disability, or familial status. This act replaces that standard with discrimination which is "motivated by" such traits.
Employers may escape liability if they prove they would have taken the same action absent the discriminatory motivating factor.
When an employer engages in a discriminatory employment practice that creates a cause of action and subsequently discovers evidence that would have constituted cause for dismissal, compensatory damages will be computed only up to the time when the employer would have dismissed the employee.
The act bars punitive and exemplary damage awards against public entities for human rights violations.
CHRIS HOGERTY