The state senate votes to wipe out years of court decisions on employee civil rights by going back to federal standards established twenty years ago and more.
Maryville Senator Brad Lager maintains it is the legislature’s job–not the court’s job–to establish public policy in Missouri. He maintains the courts have taken employee rights far beyond what was established by the federal civil rights laws of 1964 and 1991. He blames “judicial activism” for the rewriting of state employment and discrimination law.
Opponents say the bill will help silence whistleblowers and will make it easier to fire workers by putting caps on damages assessed by employers who fire them. For Senator Robin Wright-Jones of St. Louis, Lager’s bill is a major setback. She calls it “a travesty.”
One Republican joined all eight democrats voting against the bill, which passed 25-9 and now goes to the House.