SECOND REGULAR SESSION
97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE KELLY (45).
5296L.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 162.068, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to child abuse and neglect.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 162.068, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 162.068, to read as follows:
162.068. 1. By July 1, 2012, every school district shall adopt a written policy on information that the district provides about former employees, both certificated and noncertificated, to other public schools. By July 1, 2014, every charter school shall adopt a written policy on information that the charter school provides about former employees, both certificated and noncertificated, to other public schools. The policy shall include who is permitted to respond to requests for information from potential employers and the information the district or charter school would provide when responding to such a request. The policy shall require that notice of this provision be provided to all current employees and to all potential employers who contact the school district or charter school regarding the possible employment of an employee.
2. Any school district or charter school that employs a person about whom the children's division conducts an investigation involving allegations of sexual [misconduct with a student] abuse and reaches a finding of substantiated shall immediately suspend the employment of such person, notwithstanding any other provision of law, but the district or charter school may return the person to his or her employment if the child abuse and neglect review board's finding that the allegation is substantiated is reversed by a court on appeal and becomes final. Nothing shall preclude a school district or charter school from otherwise lawfully terminating the employment of any employee about whom there has been a finding of unsubstantiated resulting from an investigation by the children's division involving allegations of sexual [misconduct with a student] abuse.
3. Any employee who is permitted to respond to requests for information regarding former employees under a policy adopted by his or her school district or charter school under subsection 2 of this section and who communicates only the information which such policy directs, and who acts in good faith and without malice shall be immune against any civil action for damages brought by the former employee arising out of the communication of such information. If any such action is brought, the employee may, at his or her option, request the attorney general to defend him or her in such suit and the attorney general shall provide such defense, except that if the attorney general represents the school district or the department of elementary and secondary education in a pending licensing matter under section 168.071, the attorney general shall not represent the school district employee.
4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 2 of this section, if a district or charter school that has employed any employee whose job involves contact with children receives allegations of sexual [misconduct] abuse concerning the employee and as a result of such allegations or as a result of such allegations being substantiated by the child abuse and neglect review board dismisses the employee or allows the employee to resign in lieu of being fired and fails to disclose the allegations of sexual [misconduct] abuse when furnishing a reference for the former employee or responding to a potential employer's request for information regarding such employee, the district or charter school shall be directly liable for damages to any student of a subsequent employing district or charter school who is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be a victim of the former employee's sexual [misconduct] abuse, and the district or charter school shall bear third-party liability to the employing district or charter school for any legal liability, legal fees, costs, and expenses incurred by the employing district or charter school caused by the failure to disclose such information to the employing district or charter school.
5. If a school district or charter school has previously employed a person about whom the children's division has conducted an investigation involving allegations of sexual [misconduct] abuse with a student and has reached a finding of substantiated and another public school contacts the district or charter school for a reference for the former employee, the district or charter school shall disclose the results of the children's division's investigation to the public school.
6. Any school district or charter school employee, acting in good faith, who reports alleged sexual [misconduct] abuse on the part of a teacher or other school employee shall not be discharged or otherwise discriminated against in any fashion because of such reporting.
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