Missouri HB 2715: Modifies provisions relating to unlawful discriminatory employment practices, limiting certain civil remedies

Bill Text

SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 2715
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE DIEHL.
6139H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 213.010 and 213.111, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections
relating to certain civil remedies for unlawful discriminatory practices.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 213.010 and 213.111, RSMo, are repealed and two new sections
2 enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 213.010 and 213.111, to read as follows:
213.010. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall mean:
2 (1) "Age", an age of forty or more years but less than seventy years, except that it
3 shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to require the compulsory
4 retirement of any person who has attained the age of sixty-five and who, for the two-year
5 period immediately before retirement, is employed in a bona fide executive or high policy-
6 making position, if such person is entitled to an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement
7 benefit from a pension, profit sharing, savings or deferred compensation plan, or any
8 combination of such plans, of the employer, which equals, in the aggregate, at least forty-four
9 thousand dollars;
10 (2) "Because" or "because of", as it relates to the adverse decision or action, the
11 protected criterion was the motivating factor;
12 (3) "Commission", the Missouri commission on human rights;
13 (4) "Complainant", a person who has filed a complaint with the commission alleging
14 that another person has engaged in a prohibited discriminatory practice;
15 (5) "Disability", a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or
16 more of a person's major life activities, being regarded as having such an impairment, or a
17 record of having such an impairment, which with or without reasonable accommodation does
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is
intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.

18 not interfere with performing the job, utilizing the place of public accommodation, or
19 occupying the dwelling in question. For purposes of this chapter, the term "disability" does
20 not include current, illegal use of or addiction to a controlled substance as such term is
21 defined by section 195.010; however, a person may be considered to have a disability if that
22 person:
23 (a) Has successfully completed a supervised drug rehabilitation program and is no
24 longer engaging in the illegal use of, and is not currently addicted to, a controlled substance or
25 has otherwise been rehabilitated successfully and is no longer engaging in such use and is not
26 currently addicted;
27 (b) Is participating in a supervised rehabilitation program and is no longer engaging
28 in illegal use of controlled substances; or
29 (c) Is erroneously regarded as currently illegally using, or being addicted to, a
30 controlled substance;
31 (6) "Discrimination", conduct proscribed herein, taken because of race, color,
32 religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, or age as it relates to employment, disability, or
33 familial status as it relates to housing;
34 (7) "Dwelling", any building, structure or portion thereof which is occupied as, or
35 designed or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families, and any vacant
36 land which is offered for sale or lease for the construction or location thereon of any such
37 building, structure or portion thereof;
38 (8) "Employer", a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has six or
39 more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the
40 current or preceding calendar year, and shall include the state, or any political or civil
41 subdivision thereof, or any person employing six or more persons within the state but does
42 not include corporations and associations owned or operated by religious or sectarian
43 organizations. "Employer" shall not include:
44 (a) The United States;
45 (b) A corporation wholly owned by the government of the United States;
46 (c) An individual employed by an employer;
47 (d) An Indian tribe;
48 (e) Any department or agency of the District of Columbia subject by statute to
49 procedures of the competitive service, as defined in 5 U.S.C. Section [2101] 2102; or
50 (f) A bona fide private membership club, other than a labor organization, that is
51 exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C. Section 501(c);
52 (9) "Employment agency" includes any person or agency, public or private, regularly
53 undertaking with or without compensation to procure employees for an employer or to
54 procure for employees opportunities to work for an employer;
HB 2715 2

55 (10) "Executive director", the executive director of the Missouri commission on
56 human rights;
57 (11) "Familial status", one or more individuals who have n