Missouri Lowers Standard for Employees To Prove Retaliatory Discharge for Exercising Workers’ Compensation Rights
The Supreme Court of Missouri held that to make a case for retaliatory discharge for exercising workers’ compensation rights, a worker need only show that the filing of a workers’ compensation claim was a “contributing factor” to the employer’s decision. This case overrules a previous line of Missouri cases holding that to make a prima facie case for retaliatory discharge, an employee must demonstrate that the filing of a claim was the “exclusive factor” in the employer’s decision to terminate the worker. The court premised the change on the fact that the exclusive causation standard effectively deprived an employee’s right to remedy the harm of being discriminated against for exercising workers’ compensation rights. The dissent cautioned the majority not to overrule a long line of prior cases for policy reasons, as that was better left to the state legislature.
