State to pay $2M to settle discrimination suit

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The former director of Missouri's unemployment-benefits agency agreed to a $2 million settlement in exchange for dropping a discrimination lawsuit against Gov. Jay Nixon's administration, according to documents released Friday.

Missouri will pay $1.2 million to Gracia Backer and an additional $800,000 to her lawyers at Roger Brown and Associates, the documents provided under open-records laws show.

The settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing and states Backer cannot reapply for a state job.

Backer claimed she was fired in March 2013 as director of the Employment Security Division in retaliation for complaining to Nixon's office about her boss, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations director Larry Rebman.

Backer had alleged Rebman was creating a hostile work environment and discriminating against older female employees.

Rebman denied the allegations.

"I'm very glad it's over," Backer said Friday. "It's been a long 3 1/2 years, and I'm satisfied with the outcome."

A spokesman for Nixon referred an email seeking comment to the state attorney general's office and noted Nixon had been dismissed as a defendant.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office declined comment beyond the settlement agreement.

The state has contended with other hefty payouts over claims of harassment and discrimination, including a July jury decision that awarded $3 million to Pat Rowe Kerr, a former employee of the Missouri Veterans Commission who claimed discrimination and harassment and sued in 2011.

Also Friday, Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway announced she's reviewing state legal payments amid reports of harassment and employee lawsuits in the Department of Corrections.

Galloway said her office will audit the state's Legal Expense Fund, which is used for such settlements.

Galloway said in a release reports from The Pitch, an alternative weekly Kansas City newspaper, over sexual harassment and discrimination among prison employees spurred the review, which will cover employee lawsuits throughout the state workforce.

The alternative weekly first reported between 2012 and 2016, Missouri paid more than $7.5 million on settlements and judgments related to those alleging harassment and retaliation.

A Department of Corrections spokesman has said sexual-harassment training is mandatory for employees and supervisors.