Missouri Senate Debates Workplace Discrimination Bill

Democrats in the Missouri Senate say a bill revising workplace discrimination laws would make it harder for people to prove the claim against employers.

Senate Bill 592 would require workers who fight firings or other adverse decisions to prove in court that discrimination was a “motivating factor” — not simply a contributing factor — in the employer’s action.

The Senate spent about an hour on Jan. 23 debating the bill, with Democrats opposing it. Democrats moved to exclude age discrimination from the proposed new standard, but their amendment did not come to a vote.

The Senate could resume the debate later this week.

Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed similar legislation last year, saying it would have rolled back decades of civil rights progress.