HB 2285

                                 SECOND REGULAR SESSION
                    HOUSE BILL NO. 2285
                           103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
                          INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE CLEMENS.
 5874H.01I  JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
                                            AN ACT
 To amend chapter 290, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to responsibilities
       of employers.
 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
        Section A. Chapter 290, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be
2 known as section 290.116, to read as follows:
        290.116. 1. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
2(1) "Director", the director of the department of labor and industrial relations
3 or his or her authorized representative;
4(2) "Employee", the same meaning given to such term under section 290.500;
5(3) "Employer", an individual or private business entity that employs a
6 workforce at an establishment. For purposes of this section, "employer" also includes
7 any individual, partnership, association, corporation, or any person or group of persons
8 acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee and
9 includes any person who, directly or indirectly, owns and operates a nominal employer
10 or who owns a corporate subsidiary that, directly or indirectly, owns and operates a
11 nominal employer or makes the decision responsible for the employment action that
12 gives rise to a mass layoff subject to notification;
13(4) "Establishment", a place of employment that has been operated by an
14 employer for a period longer than three years, provided that "establishment" shall not
15 include a temporary construction site. The term "establishment" may include a single
16 location or a group of locations, including any building located in this state;
 EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is
 intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.
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17(5) "Mass layoff", a reduction in the size of a workforce that is not the result of a
18 transfer or termination of operations and that results in the termination of employment
19 at an establishment during any thirty-day period for fifty or more employees at or
20 reporting to the establishment;
21(6) "Operating unit", an organizationally distinct product, operation, or specific
22 work function within or across facilities at a single establishment;
23(7) "Termination of employment", the layoff of an employee without a
24 commitment to reinstate the employee to his or her previous employment within six
25 months of the layoff, except that "termination of employment" shall not mean a
26 voluntary departure or retirement of an employee, a discharge or suspension of an
27 employee for misconduct of the employee connected with the employment, or any layoff
28 of a seasonal employee. "Termination of employment" shall not refer to any situation in
29 which an employer offers to an employee, at a location in this state and no more than
30 fifty miles from the previous place of employment, the same employment or a position
31 with equivalent status, benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment. A
32 layoff of more than six months that, at its outset, was announced to be a layoff of six
33 months or less, shall not be considered a "termination of employment" if the extension
34 beyond six months is caused by business circumstances not reasonably foreseeable at the
35 time of the initial layoff and notice is given at the time it becomes reasonably foreseeable
36 that the extension beyond six months will be required;
37(8) "Termination of operations", the permanent or temporary shutdown of a
38 single establishment or of one or more facilities or operating units within a single
39 establishment, except that "termination of operations" shall not include a termination
40 of operations made necessary because of a fire, flood, natural disaster, national
41 emergency, act of war, civil disorder, industrial sabotage, decertification from
42 participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs as described under 42 U.S.C.
43 Section 1395 et seq., or any license revocation under the laws of this state;
44(9) "Transfer of operations", the permanent or temporary transfer of a single
45 establishment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single establishment,
46 to another location, inside or outside of this state.
472. If an establishment is subject to a transfer of operations or a termination of
48 operations that results, during any continuous period of no more than thirty days, in the
49 termination of employment of fifty or more employees, or if an employer conducts a
50 mass layoff, the employer who operates the establishment or conducts the mass layoff
51 shall:
52(1) Provide, in the case of an employer who employs one hundred or more
53 employees, no less than ninety days or the period of time required under the federal
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54 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C. Section
55 2101 et seq., whichever is longer, before the first termination of employment occurs in
56 connection with the termination or transfer of operations or mass layoff, notification of
57 the termination or transfer of operations or mass layoff to the director, the chief elected
58 official of any municipality in which the establishment is located, each employee whose
59 employment is to be terminated, and any collective bargaining units of employees at the
60 establishment;
61(2) Provide, to each employee whose employment is terminated, severance pay
62 equal to one week of pay for each full year of employment. If the employer provides any
63 employee with less than the number of days of notification required under subdivision
64 (1) of this subsection, the employer shall provide that employee with an additional four
65 weeks of pay. The rate of severance pay provided by the employer under this
66 subdivision shall be the average regular rate of compensation received during the
67 employee's last three years of employment with the employer or the final regular rate of
68 compensation paid to the employee, whichever rate is higher. Severance under this
69 subsection shall be regarded as compensation due to an employee for back pay and
70 losses associated with the termination of the employment relationship and earned in full
71 upon the termination of the employment relationship, notwithstanding the calculation of
72 the amount of the payment with reference to the employee’s length of service. An
73 employer shall provide an employee the greater of:
74(a) The severance pay required under this subdivision; or
75(b) Any severance pay provided by the employer pursuant to a collective
76 bargaining agreement or for any other reason.
77
78 Any back pay provided by the employer to the employee under the Worker Adjustment
79 and Retraining Notification Act, 29 U.S.C. Section 2101 et seq., because of a violation of
80 that act, shall be credited toward meeting the severance pay requirements of this
81 subdivision.
823. No waiver of the right to severance provided under this section shall be
83 effective without approval of the waiver by the director or by a court of competent
84 jurisdiction.
854. The department of labor and industrial relations may promulgate all
86 necessary rules and regulations for the administration of this section. Any rule or
87 portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under the
88 authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is
89 subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028. This
90 section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the
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91 general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective date, or to
92 disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of
93 rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2026, shall be
94 invalid and void.
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