HB 115 -- Missouri Equal Pay Act

Sponsor:  Hickey

This bill enacts the Missouri Equal Pay Act.  In its main
provisions, the bill:

(1)  Makes it an unlawful employment practice for employers to
discriminate between employees on the basis of sex, age, race,
disability, or national origin in the payment of wages for work
in equal jobs performed under similar working conditions which
require equal skill, effort, and responsibility;

(2)  Makes it an unlawful employment practice for employers to
retaliate against employees who utilize the protections of this
act;

(3)  Clarifies the conditions in which wage payment
differentials can be paid to employees.  The conditions include
the presence of a bona fide seniority or merit system; a system
which measures earnings by the quality and quantity of
production; bona fide factors other than sex, age, race,
disability, or national origin; and bona fide regional economic
differentials;

(4)  Prohibits employers from reducing wages to comply with this
act;

(5)  Requires employers to maintain records on wages paid to
employees for a period of 2 years;

(6)  Lists the remedies available to employees for violations of
this act and prohibits the payment of punitive damages;

(7)  Allows any party to an action to demand a trial by jury;

(8)  Authorizes the court to order the parties to an action to
participate in an alternative dispute resolution program; and

(9)  Requires that actions be instituted within 2 years of the
last violation and specifies that an employer's liability for
back wages can extend to 2 years immediately prior to the date
that action is brought.

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated November 26, 2001 at 11:42 am