Contracts mandating protections remain in force while unions challenge 2018 law to limit worker job rights

Three state employee labor unions hoping to preserve the merit system for their members told the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday that a law passed in 2018 doesn’t alter existing contracts.

Under the law, most state employees lost protections that included grievance procedures to protest disciplinary actions and a requirement that the state have a good cause – such as unexcused absences or subpar performance – to fire someone.

Instead, workers who are not employed supervising prisoners or caring for residents of state institutions became at-will employees who can be fired at any time.

“At-will employment is the least protection you can have in Missouri,” assistant attorney general Maria Lanahan reminded the court.

The law is being challenged by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME; the Communications Workers of America, or CWA; and the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU.

Each had contracts that required merit-system protections for the covered employees. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled last year that the contracts remained in force until renegotiated.

Attorney Loretta Haggard, who represents the unions, told the court that because the law was silent on union contracts and because the state constitution prohibits laws that impair the obligation of contracts, the protections can be retained in new...

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