SECOND REGULAR SESSION
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES EMERY (Sponsor), JONES (89), COX, ST. ONGE, AULL, DEEKEN, RUESTMAN, BIVINS, DIXON AND SANDER (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time January 24, 2008 and copies ordered printed.
D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 213.010, 213.055, 213.070, and 213.111, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof four new sections relating to the Missouri human rights act.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 213.010, 213.055, 213.070, and 213.111, RSMo, are repealed and four new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 213.010, 213.055, 213.070, and 213.111, to read as follows:
213.010. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall mean:
(1) "Age", an age of forty or more years but less than seventy years, except that it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to require the compulsory retirement of any person who has attained the age of sixty-five and who, for the two-year period immediately before retirement, is employed in a bona fide executive or high policy-making position, if such person is entitled to an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit from a pension, profit sharing, savings or deferred compensation plan, or any combination of such plans, of the employer, which equals, in the aggregate, at least forty-four thousand dollars;
(2) "Commission", the Missouri commission on human rights;
(3) "Complainant", a person who has filed a complaint with the commission alleging that another person has engaged in a prohibited discriminatory practice;
(4) "Disability", a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities, being regarded as having such an impairment, or a record of having such an impairment, which with or without reasonable accommodation does not interfere with performing the job, utilizing the place of public accommodation, or occupying the dwelling in question. For purposes of this chapter, the term "disability" does not include current, illegal use of or addiction to a controlled substance as such term is defined by section 195.010, RSMo; however, a person may be considered to have a disability if that person:
(a) Has successfully completed a supervised drug rehabilitation program and is no longer engaging in the illegal use of, and is not currently addicted to, a controlled substance or has otherwise been rehabilitated successfully and is no longer engaging in such use and is not currently addicted;
(b) Is participating in a supervised rehabilitation program and is no longer engaging in illegal use of controlled substances; or
(c) Is erroneously regarded as currently illegally using, or being addicted to, a controlled substance;
(5) "Discrimination", [any unfair treatment based on] an adverse action motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age as it relates to employment, disability, or familial status as it relates to housing;
(6) "Dwelling", any building, structure or portion thereof which is occupied as, or designed or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families, and any vacant land which is offered for sale or lease for the construction or location thereon of any such building, structure or portion thereof;
(7) "Employer" includes the state, or any political or civil subdivision thereof, or any person employing six or more persons within the state, [and any person directly acting in the interest of an employer,] but does not include corporations and associations owned and operated by religious or sectarian groups;
(8) "Employment agency" includes any person or agency, public or private, regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure employees for an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to work for an employer and includes any person acting in the interest of such a person;
(9) "Executive director", the executive director of the Missouri commission on human rights;
(10) "Familial status", one or more individuals who have not attained the age of eighteen years being domiciled with:
(a) A parent or another person having legal custody of such individual; or
(b) The designee of such parent or other person having such custody, with the written permission of such parent or other person. The protections afforded against discrimination on the basis of familial status shall apply to any person who is pregnant or is in the process of securing legal custody of any individual who has not attained the age of eighteen years;
(11) "Human rights fund", a fund established to receive civil penalties as required by federal regulations and as set forth by subdivision (2) of subsection 11 of section 213.075, and which will be disbursed to offset additional expenses related to compliance with the Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations;
(12) "Labor organization" includes any organization which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in relation to employment;
(13) "Local commissions", any commission or agency established prior to August 13, 1986, by an ordinance or order adopted by the governing body of any city, constitutional charter city, town, village, or county;
(14) "Person" includes one or more individuals, corporations, partnerships, associations, organizations, labor organizations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint stock companies, trusts, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, fiduciaries, or other organized groups of persons;
(15) "Places of public accommodation", all places or businesses offering or holding out to the general public, goods, services, privileges, facilities, advantages or accommodations for the peace, comfort, health, welfare and safety of the general public or such public places providing food, shelter, recreation and amusement, including, but not limited to:
(a) Any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, other than an establishment located within a building which contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and which is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as his residence;
(b) Any restaurant, cafeteria, lunchroom, lunch counter, soda fountain, or other facility principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises, including, but not limited to, any such facility located on the premises of any retail establishment;
(c) Any gasoline station, including all facilities located on the premises of such gasoline station and made available to the patrons thereof;
(d) Any motion picture house, theater, concert hall, sports arena, stadium, or other place of exhibition or entertainment;
(e) Any public facility owned, operated, or managed by or on behalf of this state or any agency or subdivision thereof, or any public corporation; and any such facility supported in whole or in part by public funds;
(f) Any establishment which is physically located within the premises of any establishment otherwise covered by this section or within the premises of which is physically located any such covered establishment, and which holds itself out as serving patrons of such covered establishment;
(16) "Rent" includes to lease, to sublease, to let and otherwise to grant for consideration the right to occupy premises not owned by the occupant;
(17) "Respondent", a person who is alleged to have engaged in a prohibited discriminatory practice in a complaint filed with the commission;
(18) "Unlawful discriminatory practice", any act that is unlawful under this chapter.
213.055. 1. It shall be an unlawful employment practice:
(1) [For an employer, because of the] When race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability of any individual is the factor motivating the employer's decision:
(a) To fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability;
(b) To limit, segregate, or classify his employees or his employment applicants in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability;
(2) For a labor organization to exclude or to expel from its membership any individual or to discriminate in any way against any of its members or against any employer or any individual employed by an employer because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability of any individual; or to limit, segregate, or classify its membership, or to classify or fail or refuse to refer for employment any individual, in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities, or would limit such employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee or as an applicant for employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability; or for any employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining, including on-the-job training programs to discriminate against any individual because of his race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or other training;
(3) For any employer or employment agency to print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement or publication, or to use any form of application for employment or to make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment, which expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination, because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification or for an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of his race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age as it relates to employment, or disability, or to classify or refer for employment any individual on the basis of his race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability.
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to apply different standards of compensation, or different terms, conditions or privileges of employment pursuant to a bona fide seniority or merit system, or a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production or to employees who work in different locations, provided that such differences or such systems are not the result of an intention or a design to discriminate, and are not used to discriminate, because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age or disability, nor shall it be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to give and to act upon the results of any professionally developed ability test, provided that such test, its administration, or action upon the results thereof, is not designed, intended or used to discriminate because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability.
3. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be interpreted to require any employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee subject to this chapter to grant preferential treatment to any individual or to any group because of the race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability of such individual or group on account of an imbalance which may exist with respect to the total number or percentage of persons of any race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability employed by any employer, referred or classified for employment by any employment agency or labor organization, admitted to membership or classified by any labor organization, or admitted to or employed in any apprenticeship or other training program, in comparison with the total number or percentage of persons of such race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability in any community, state, section, or other area, or in the available workforce in any community, state, section, or other area.
4. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for the state or any political subdivision of the state to comply with the provisions of 29 U.S.C. 623 relating to employment as firefighters or law enforcement officers.
213.070. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer:
(1) To aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the commission of acts prohibited under this chapter or to attempt to do so;
(2) To retaliate or discriminate in any manner against any other person because such person has opposed any practice prohibited by this chapter or because such person has filed a complaint, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in any investigation, proceeding or hearing conducted pursuant to this chapter;
(3) For the state or any political subdivision of this state to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age, as it relates to employment, disability, or familial status as it relates to housing; or
(4) To discriminate in any manner against any other person because of such person's association with any person protected by this chapter.
213.111. 1. If, after one hundred eighty days from the filing of a complaint alleging an unlawful discriminatory practice pursuant to section 213.055, 213.065 or 213.070 to the extent that the alleged violation of section 213.070 relates to or involves a violation of section 213.055 or 213.065, or subdivision (3) of section 213.070 as it relates to employment and public accommodations, the commission has not completed its administrative processing and the person aggrieved so requests in writing, the commission shall issue to the person claiming to be aggrieved a letter indicating his or her right to bring a civil action within ninety days of such notice against the respondent named in the complaint. If, after the filing of a complaint pursuant to sections 213.040, 213.045, 213.050 and 213.070, to the extent that the alleged violation of section 213.070 relates to or involves a violation of sections 213.040, 213.045 and 213.050, or subdivision (3) of section 213.070 as it relates to housing, and the person aggrieved so requests in writing, the commission shall issue to the person claiming to be aggrieved a letter indicating his or her right to bring a civil action within ninety days of such notice against the respondent named in the complaint. Such an action may be brought in any circuit court in any county in which the unlawful discriminatory practice is alleged to have occurred, either before a circuit or associate circuit judge. Upon issuance of this notice, the commission shall terminate all proceedings relating to the complaint. No person may file or reinstate a complaint with the commission after the issuance of a notice under this section relating to the same practice or act. Any action brought in court under this section shall be filed within ninety days from the date of the commission's notification letter to the individual but no later than two years after the alleged cause occurred or its reasonable discovery by the alleged injured party.
2. The court may grant as relief, as it deems appropriate, any permanent or temporary injunction, temporary restraining order, or other order, and may award to the plaintiff actual [and punitive] damages. The court may also award punitive damages to the plaintiff only if the defendant or respondent is not a state governmental agency or corporation, including public school districts and political subdivisions, and may award court costs and reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party, other than a state agency or commission or a local commission; except that, a prevailing respondent may be awarded court costs and reasonable attorney fees only upon a showing that the case is without foundation.
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