Terms Used In Missouri Laws > Chapter 213 - Human Rights

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Age: an age of forty or more years but less than seventy years, except that it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to require the compulsory retirement of any person who has attained the age of sixty-five and who, for the two-year period immediately before retirement, is employed in a bona fide executive or high policy-making position, if such person is entitled to an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit from a pension, profit sharing, savings or deferred compensation plan, or any combination of such plans, of the employer, which equals, in the aggregate, at least forty-four thousand dollars. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• because of: as it relates to the adverse decision or action, the protected criterion was the motivating factor. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Commission: the Missouri commission on human rights. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Complainant: a person who has filed a complaint with the commission alleging that another person has engaged in a prohibited discriminatory practice. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Disability: a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities, being regarded as having such an impairment, or a record of having such an impairment, which with or without reasonable accommodation does not interfere with performing the job, utilizing the place of public accommodation, or occupying the dwelling in question. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Discrimination: conduct proscribed herein, taken because of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, or age as it relates to employment, disability, or familial status as it relates to housing. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Dwelling: any building, structure or portion thereof which is occupied as, or designed or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families, and any vacant land which is offered for sale or lease for the construction or location thereon of any such building, structure or portion thereof. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Employer: a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has six or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and shall include the state, or any political or civil subdivision thereof, or any person employing six or more persons within the state but does not include corporations and associations owned or operated by religious or sectarian organizations. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Employment agency: includes any person or agency, public or private, regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure employees for an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to work for an employer. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executive director: the executive director of the Missouri commission on human rights. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Familial status: one or more individuals who have not attained the age of eighteen years being domiciled with:

  (a) A parent or another person having legal custody of such individual. See Missouri Laws 213.010

• following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• hereafter: means the time after the statute containing it takes effect. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Human rights fund: a fund established to receive civil penalties as required by federal regulations and as set forth by subdivision (2) of subsection 11 of section 213. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Jury instructions: A judge's directions to the jury before it begins deliberations regarding the factual questions it must answer and the legal rules that it must apply. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Labor organization: includes any organization which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in relation to employment. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local commissions: any commission or agency established prior to August 13, 1986, by an ordinance or order adopted by the governing body of any city, constitutional charter city, town, village, or county. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• motivating factor: the employee's protected classification actually played a role in the adverse action or decision and had a determinative influence on the adverse decision or action. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Person: includes one or more individuals, corporations, partnerships, associations, organizations, labor organizations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint stock companies, trusts, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, fiduciaries, or other organized groups of persons. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Places of public accommodation: all places or businesses offering or holding out to the general public, goods, services, privileges, facilities, advantages or accommodations for the peace, comfort, health, welfare and safety of the general public or such public places providing food, shelter, recreation and amusement, including, but not limited to:

  (a) Any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, other than an establishment located within a building which contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and which is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as his residence. See Missouri Laws 213.010

• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Property: includes real and personal property. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Rent: includes to lease, to sublease, to let and otherwise to grant for consideration the right to occupy premises not owned by the occupant. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Respondent: a person who is alleged to have engaged in a prohibited discriminatory practice in a complaint filed with the commission. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Unlawful discriminatory practice: any act that is unlawful under this chapter. See Missouri Laws 213.010
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.