105.055. State employee reporting mismanagement or violations of agencies, discipline of employee prohibited--appeal by employee from disciplinary actions, procedure--disciplinary action defined--viol
State employee reporting mismanagement or violations of agencies,discipline of employee prohibited--appeal by employee fromdisciplinary actions, procedure--disciplinary actiondefined--violation, penalties--civil action, when.
105.055. 1. No supervisor or appointing authority of any stateagency shall prohibit any employee of the agency from discussing theoperations of the agency, either specifically or generally, with any memberof the legislature, state auditor, attorney general, or any state officialor body charged with investigating such alleged misconduct.
2. No supervisor or appointing authority of any state agency shall:
(1) Prohibit a state employee from or take any disciplinary actionwhatsoever against a state employee for the disclosure of any allegedprohibited activity under investigation or any related activity, or for thedisclosure of information which the employee reasonably believes evidences:
(a) A violation of any law, rule or regulation; or
(b) Mismanagement, a gross waste of funds or abuse of authority, or asubstantial and specific danger to public health or safety, if thedisclosure is not specifically prohibited by law; or
(2) Require any such employee to give notice to the supervisor orappointing authority prior to making any such report.
3. This section shall not be construed as:
(1) Prohibiting a supervisor or appointing authority from requiringthat an employee inform the supervisor or appointing authority as tolegislative requests for information to the agency or the substance oftestimony made, or to be made, by the employee to legislators on behalf ofthe employee to legislators on behalf of the agency;
(2) Permitting an employee to leave the employee's assigned workareas during normal work hours without following applicable rules andregulations and policies pertaining to leaves, unless the employee isrequested by a legislator or legislative committee to appear before alegislative committee;
(3) Authorizing an employee to represent the employee's personalopinions as the opinions of a state agency; or
(4) Restricting or precluding disciplinary action taken against astate employee if: the employee knew that the information was false; theinformation is closed or is confidential under the provisions of the openmeetings law or any other law; or the disclosure relates to the employee'sown violations, mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority orendangerment of the public health or safety.
4. As used in this section, "disciplinary action" means anydismissal, demotion, transfer, reassignment, suspension, reprimand, warningof possible dismissal or withholding of work, whether or not thewithholding of work has affected or will affect the employee'scompensation.
5. Any employee may file an administrative appeal whenever theemployee alleges that disciplinary action was taken against the employee inviolation of this section. The appeal shall be filed with the statepersonnel advisory board; provided that the appeal shall be filed with theappropriate agency review board or body of nonmerit agency employers whichhave established appeal procedures substantially similar to those providedfor merit employees in subsection 5 of section 36.390, RSMo. The appealshall be filed within thirty days of the alleged disciplinary action.Procedures governing the appeal shall be in accordance with chapter 36,RSMo. If the board or appropriate review body finds that disciplinaryaction taken was unreasonable, the board or appropriate review body shallmodify or reverse the agency's action and order such relief for theemployee as the board considers appropriate. If the board finds aviolation of this section, it may review and recommend to the appointingauthority that the violator be suspended on leave without pay for not morethan thirty days or, in cases of willful or repeated violations, may reviewand recommend to the appointing authority that the violator forfeit theviolator's position as a state officer or employee and disqualify theviolator for appointment to or employment as a state officer or employeefor a period of not more than two years. The decision of the board orappropriate review body in such cases may be appealed by any party pursuantto law.
6. Each state agency shall prominently post a copy of this section inlocations where it can reasonably be expected to come to the attention ofall employees of the agency.
7. (1) In addition to the remedies in subsection 6 of this section,a person who alleges a violation of this section may bring a civil actionfor damages within ninety days after the occurrence of the allegedviolation.
(2) A civil action commenced pursuant to this subsection may bebrought in the circuit court for the county where the alleged violationoccurred, the county where the complainant resides, or the county where theperson against whom the civil complaint is filed resides.
(3) An employee must show by clear and convincing evidence that he orshe or a person acting on his or her behalf has reported or was about toreport, verbally or in writing, a prohibited activity or a suspectedprohibited activity.
(4) A court, in rendering a judgment in an action brought pursuant tothis section, shall order, as the court considers appropriate, actualdamages, and may also award the complainant all or a portion of the costsof litigation, including reasonable attorney fees.
(L. 1987 H.B. 659 § 1, A.L. 1993 S.B. 180, A.L. 2000 S.B. 788, A.L. 2004 H.B. 1548)