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Mo. Senate passes workplace discrimination reform bill

Mo. Senate Democrats tried to filibuster the workplace discrimination reform bill last week.
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Mo. Senate Democrats tried to filibuster the workplace discrimination reform bill last week.

The Missouri Senate has passed legislation that would redefine what constitutes discrimination in the workplace. The vote was a mere formality following last week’s battle to kill the bill.

Maria Chappelle-Nadal and several other Senate Democrats had conducted a filibuster, but gave in after language guaranteeing jury trials in discrimination lawsuits was added to the bill.  But she still spoke out against it, in particular, the Missouri Chamber’s claim that the bill would help curb frivolous lawsuits.

“I’d like to see one of their children, for all the corporations that are part of the Chamber, I’d like to hear what they’d have to say when their 16-year-old child is dry-humped…that doesn’t sound like a frivolous lawsuit,” Chappelle-Nadal said.

The bill now goes to the Missouri House, where a similar version received first-round approval this week.

Missouri Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a proud alumnus of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a., Ole Miss), and has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off the old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Mason, and their cat, Honey.
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