(AP) -- The Missouri Senate has taken up a proposal to change the legal standard for proving workplace discrimination and to limit the amount of damages victims could recover in lawsuits.
The measure being debated Monday would require a showing that discrimination was a "motivating factor" -- not simply a contributing factor -- in an employer's action against an employee.
The bill would also tie the maximum punitive damages a victim could recover in a lawsuit to the size of the employer. Democrats voiced opposition, saying that punitive damages help discourage acts of discrimination.
A House committee gave its backing to a similar bill earlier Monday.
Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed similar legislation last year, saying it would have rolled back decades of civil rights progress.
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