213.077. Settlement and conciliation agreement--restrictions, procedure. - Missouri Statutes

Settlement and conciliation agreement--restrictions, procedure.

213.077. 1. During the period beginning with the filing ofa complaint under section 213.075, and ending with the filing ofa charge, setting of a complaint for hearing or dismissal of acomplaint pursuant to the provisions of that section, theexecutive director and the commission staff shall, to the extentfeasible, engage in settlement and/or conciliation with respectto the complaint. Any settlement and conciliation agreementnegotiated during such period shall be an agreement between thecomplainant and respondent and shall be subject to approval bythe executive director. Nothing said or done in the course ofsettlement or conciliation under this section shall be madepublic or used as evidence in any subsequent proceeding underthis chapter, without the written consent of the complainant andrespondent.

2. If a complaint has been filed pursuant to section213.055, 213.065 or 213.070, alleging commission of an unlawfulemployment practice or discrimination in public accommodations:

(1) During investigation, the public shall not have accessto records relating to the complaint, nor shall any informationrelating thereto be released to the public;

(2) During investigation, the complainant and respondentshall only have access to records they provided until the pointat which disclosure is allowed at hearing, or if a request forcivil action is made under section 213.111 for a right to orother legal proceedings pursuant to federal, state or localdiscrimination laws that require disclosure;

(3) Settlement agreements, executed during investigationshall be disclosed to the public only by agreement of thecomplainant and respondent;

(4) After closure of a complaint, the public may only haveaccess to the complaint and closure documents by agreement of thecomplainant and respondent;

(5) Excluding a finding of probable cause, after aninvestigation closure, the complainant and respondent may haveaccess to the investigative file except for sensitive orconfidential records and records relating to witnesses who haverequested anonymity. With respect to records that the commissionhas obtained from other government agencies, the commission willobserve any statutory confidentiality provisions imposed on theoriginating agencies;

(6) A conciliation agreement shall be disclosed to thepublic only by agreement of the complainant and respondent;

(7) After failure of conciliation attempts, the complainantand respondent may have access to copies of the investigativefile, except for sensitive or confidential records and recordsrelating to witnesses who have requested anonymity;

(8) To achieve the purposes of this chapter, thissubsection shall not apply to disclosure of information torepresentatives of interested federal, state or local civil orhuman rights agencies.

3. If a complaint is filed alleging violation of section213.040, 213.045, 213.050, or 213.070, to the extent that thealleged violation of section 213.070 relates to or involvesviolations of one or more of the other above enumerated sectionsor relates to or involves the encouraging, aiding or abetting ofviolation of such sections:

(1) The public, complainant and respondent shall haveaccess to records relating to the complaint in the same manner asset forth in subdivisions (1), (2), (4), (5), (7), and (8) ofsubsection 2 of this section;

(2) Any settlement or conciliation agreement entered intoby the complainant and respondent shall be made public unless theparties thereto otherwise agree and the executive directordetermines that disclosure is not required to further the purposeof this chapter.

(L. 1992 H.B. 1619)