Alan Rupe Speaks to Kansas City Star for Article on Longstanding Issues Impacting Missouri Human Rights Commission

Kansas City, Mo. (April 14, 2023) - Kansas City & Wichita Managing Partner Alan Rupe spoke with The Kansas City Star for an article titled “How a Dysfunctional Missouri Human Rights Commission Slows Discrimination Lawsuits,” which discusses how recent public comments from the chairman of the Missouri Human Rights Commission (MHRC) have highlighted credibility problems within the organization.

As the article describes, MHRC Chairman Timothy Faber recently spoke out against adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Missouri’s non-discrimination law, provoking outrage among the LGBTQ community and Democrats. This development, according to the article, also shined “a spotlight on the commission itself, which lawyers and employment discrimination experts say is a broken agency unable to effectively respond to allegations of discrimination.”

In commenting upon the MHRC’s backlog of cases, Mr. Rupe told The Kansas City Star that while the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has “spectacular mediators” that it uses to attempt to resolve cases early, “that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Missouri agency.” Mr. Rupe further explained that this has been the case in Missouri for many years.

Mr. Rupe is a vice-chair of Lewis Brisbois’ Labor & Employment Practice. He is an experienced trial lawyer who is consistently recognized for excellence by local, state, national, and international rankings organizations and is also an “Advocate” member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. His practice embraces every aspect of employment law, including day-to-day counseling, training, administrative agency proceedings, civil litigation, and trials.

Read the full Kansas City Star article here.