Senate gives first approval to Merit System changes

Thomas Jefferson's statue graces the south side of the Missouri Capitol.
Thomas Jefferson's statue graces the south side of the Missouri Capitol.

With just three weeks to go in this year's legislative session, state Sen. Mike Kehoe's bill reforming the state's Merit System could be going to the House next week.

After a nearly 90-minute debate Thursday, the Senate gave its preliminary approval to the changes on a voice vote.

"This is important to many constituents that I serve, as it affects the state employees not only in my district, but across the state," Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, explained to colleagues at the beginning of the debate.

"(This bill) attempts to level the playing field with our state employees, so that everybody is in the same category."

He noted the Merit System was launched after World War II, and after more than 70 years, it "is not up to the standards of what a free market and a competitive environment" would require for retaining and advancing quality employees.

Kehoe said he's heard too many stories of state employees who have worked hard at their jobs but were passed over by someone else.

"I hear that all day long at the grocery store, at church, at the soccer field," he explained. "It's a constant complaint from people that feel like the Merit System helps the folks who might not be as energized kind of stay hidden under the state system."

To help make government more efficient, Kehoe added, "We should continue to run it like how a business is run, and this is how a private business is run.

"Employees work for the business (as) at-will employees, but they still have the protections under federal law and state law that they can't be taken advantage of or abused in any kind of way according to their race or creed or any of their personal preferences."

Of Missouri's roughly 55,000 state employees, Kehoe said, about 46 percent are not covered by the Merit System.

But Sen. Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors, reminded Kehoe there are many state employees in her North St. Louis County district and she is concerned with the proposal to make most state employees at-will employees who can be "discharged for no reason, or any reason, not prohibited by law."

She added: "This says to me that if a boss comes in one morning and is having a bad day, and nobody is performing up to his standards, he can just tell them, 'That's it. You're finished.'"

Kehoe replied: "That can happen in any business."

Walsh reminded him the Merit System provides employees with recourse to fight wrongful employment decisions.

Kehoe countered, good employees' jobs will be safe.

"But, if that boss' responsibility is to provide certain services and goals and objectives for that department," he said, "you're not going to want to get rid of the best employees that you have."

Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, worked as a state employee before she became a lawmaker, and told Kehoe she's heard concerns from state workers.

"I just feel in my heart that this is not the right way to go," she said. "I'm not saying that every person is fantastic but there are a lot of people who are not given a really fair opportunity in the state to thrive."

She's not sure Kehoe's bill is the right way to approach the problem.

He told her: "I don't know that there is a perfect way," but that he is concerned the state is losing good people who are passed over by the Merit System.

Chappelle-Nadal said: "We depend a lot on those people.

"I want to make sure that they're not skipped that they're treated fairly."

The measure needs a Senate roll-call vote before it can go to the House.

Kehoe thought that final vote could come Monday or Tuesday.