Discrimination Protections are Reduced After Missouri Signs Bill to Protect Businesses

Missouri is rolling back employment discrimination protections to protect businesses from frivolous lawsuits. At least, that’s the rationale Governor Eric Greitens would have everyone believe. The new law, SB 43, will go into effect beginning April 28 of next year. Previously, employees in Missouri only had to show that discrimination was one factor in their demotion or dismissal to bring a suit. Under the new law, employees must show that discrimination was “the motivating factor” or primary cause of their demotion or termination. Additionally, the bill would cap the amount of damages that an employee could receive and would restrict such suits to businesses. Employees would not be able to sue individuals, such as their supervisors, for discrimination. The bill applies the same restrictions to housing and public accommodations.

The bill is extremely controversial in Missouri, in part because the sponsor of the bill, State Senator Gary Romine, owns a business that is being sued for alleged discrimination.  The employee in Romine’s case alleges that his supervisor calls him “nigger” and that there is a map in the back of the store circling a black neighborhood with the words “do not rent” underneath. Romine denies any wrongdoing in the case and insists that his bill was aimed at frivolous lawsuits without any consideration for the case pending against his company. Nevertheless, the NAACP and other critics accuse Romine of self-dealing while sponsoring and passing the bill.

The Downfall of Mixed-Motive Cases?

As promised, these restrictions will doom many employment discrimination suits. In an at-will employment position, an employer can fire a worker for any reason except for reasons that are prohibited by law. However, it’s rare today for employers to admit to terminating an employee purely for illegal reasons. Instead, the suits often involve cases where the employer dismisses an employee for a mix of legal and illegal reasons. For instance, if a woman is denied a promotion because her performance review says “she berates the staff” and that she “overcompensates for being a woman,” she might have an actionable suit based on the latter comment. However, the former comment would be a justifiable reason for the business to deny her a promotion.

Under federal law, an employer that has both legitimate reasons and illegitimate reasons will be liable for discrimination. If the employer can prove that it would have treated the employee the same without the illegitimate reasons though, reinstatement, back pay, and future pay will be denied to the employee. States have taken different positions on mixed motive discrimination. Many states have adopted the federal model. Other states permit the employee to prevail even he or she can show that an illegal reason exists, regardless of whether there were other legitimate reasons.

The Future of Missouri Businesses

Missouri has changed from a “no impressible motive whatsoever” position to a legal regime where discrimination must be the “dominating factor.” In other words, for Missouri employees to prevail now, it is not enough to show that the employer was discriminatory. If the employer might have had other reasons for dismissing or denying a promotion, the employee must show that discrimination was the most significant reason for loss of employment or promotion. Previously, the woman who sued for losing her promotion to comments that she “berates the staff” and that she “overcompensates for being a woman,” would have won because the second comment was proof of discrimination. Under the new Missouri law, it is not enough that the second comment exists. Instead, the second comment must be the #1 reason the woman lost her promotion.

Although this structure will undoubtedly force many employees out of the Missouri courthouse, the dominate motive structure is not an unusual one. Even states as liberal as California use the dominate motive instead of the mix motive framework to balance the fight between employers and employees. Instead, the most egregious aspect of SB 43 is that it caps damages. If a state forces a plaintiff to jump through hoops, like establishing dominate motive, it seems overly cruel to limit the damages that a plaintiff can obtain if the plaintiff wins. Employment lawsuits can be long and draining as they are. Missouri has doubled the time, expense, and difficulty for employees to collect a judgment, but it has reduced the amount of money that the employee gets even if the employee does everything correctly. It adds insult to injury if an employee can claim she was discriminated, but gets less for it.