No. Missouri law makes it illegal for an employer to fire or otherwise punish you for filing a workers' compensation claim. If your employer does this, you have the right to sue them directly in civil court — separate from your workers' comp case.
The fear of losing your job is one of the most common reasons injured workers in Missouri hesitate to file workers' compensation claims. Some employers count on that fear. But Missouri law — specifically RSMo § 287.780 — directly prohibits employers from retaliating against workers who exercise their rights under the workers' compensation system.
If you have been fired, demoted, had your hours cut, or been treated differently after filing a workers' comp claim, you may have a retaliation claim on top of your underlying workers' compensation case. This guide explains your rights, what the law protects, and what you can do if your employer fires you for filing.
What Missouri Law Says About Firing Injured Workers
RSMo § 287.780 states plainly that it is unlawful for an employer to discharge or discriminate against an employee for exercising any rights under Missouri's workers' compensation statute. The protection covers:
- Filing a workers' compensation claim
- Attempting to file a workers' compensation claim
- Reporting a workplace injury
- Cooperating with a workers' comp investigation
- Testifying in a workers' comp proceeding
The law does not require you to have actually received a workers' comp benefit — even an attempt to file is protected. An employer who fires a worker simply for reporting a workplace injury is already in legal jeopardy.
What "Discrimination" Means Under § 287.780
Most people focus on termination, but the statute's protections go much further than firing. The word "discriminate" in § 287.780 has been interpreted broadly by Missouri courts. Discrimination can include:
- Demotion or reduction in pay
- Cutting hours or changing shifts to make your situation worse
- Issuing pretextual disciplinary write-ups after your claim
- Excluding you from meetings, training, or advancement opportunities
- Creating a hostile work environment designed to force you to quit
- Assigning degrading or humiliating duties specifically because of your claim
- Threatening you for filing or continuing to pursue your claim
If your employer's treatment of you changed significantly after your workers' comp claim — in any of these ways — that change in treatment may constitute illegal discrimination under § 287.780. For a deeper look at the signs to watch for, see our post on workers' comp employer retaliation warning signs.
The "At-Will Employment" Question
Missouri is an at-will employment state. That means employers can generally fire workers for any reason or no reason at all — without notice or severance. Many injured workers assume this means their employer can fire them for filing workers' comp too.
That assumption is wrong. At-will employment has exceptions, and RSMo § 287.780 is one of the most clearly stated. The Missouri Supreme Court has affirmed that workers' comp retaliation is an actionable wrongful termination claim — precisely because the legislature created that exception to the at-will rule to protect injured workers. Your employer's general right to terminate you does not extend to terminating you because you filed a workers' comp claim.
What You Can Recover If You Were Fired Illegally
A successful § 287.780 retaliation claim can result in significant recovery. Courts have broad authority to make wrongfully terminated workers whole, which can include:
- Back pay — all wages lost from the date of termination
- Front pay — lost future wages if reinstatement is not practical
- Reinstatement to your position if appropriate
- Emotional distress damages for the non-economic harm caused by the unlawful termination
- Punitive damages in cases where the employer's conduct was particularly egregious or willful
The retaliation lawsuit is filed in Missouri circuit court as a civil case — entirely separate from the Missouri Division of Workers' Compensation administrative process. You can pursue both claims simultaneously. Filing a retaliation lawsuit does not interfere with your workers' compensation case, and winning one does not preclude recovery on the other.
How to Prove You Were Fired for Filing Workers' Comp
Employers rarely put the real reason in writing. No email is going to say "we are firing you because you filed a claim." Instead, they manufacture reasons: performance problems that were never raised before, policy violations that were ignored until the claim appeared, reorganizations that target only the injured worker. Your job is to document the circumstances that reveal the true motive.
Key evidence in a § 287.780 retaliation case typically includes:
- Timing. How quickly did the adverse action happen after your claim? Days or weeks is very different from months or years. Close timing is one of the strongest circumstantial indicators of retaliation.
- Inconsistent treatment. Were other employees who committed the same policy violations not disciplined or fired? That disparity can support a retaliation claim.
- Pre-claim record. If your performance reviews were positive until the claim, then suddenly became negative, that shift in documentation is telling.
- Statements by supervisors. Even indirect comments about the claim, the cost of the injury, or discouraging words about pursuing benefits can matter.
- Paper trail you created. Written reports, emails, texts — any record you have of reporting your injury, filing your claim, and the response you received afterward.
Start documenting now, before anything else changes at work. Write down dates, times, conversations, and anything you observe. Keep records somewhere your employer cannot access — at home, in a personal email.
Fired after filing workers' comp? You may have two cases — not one.
Before private practice, Chris Miller worked inside the Missouri Division of Workers' Compensation. He has seen how employers try to shut down claims — and knows what it takes to fight back. Free consultation. No fee unless we win.
Talk to Chris Miller →What to Do Right Now If You Were Fired
If you have been fired — or believe you are about to be fired — because of your workers' compensation claim, take these steps immediately:
Do not sign anything. Your employer may ask you to sign a separation agreement or severance release. Do not sign until you have spoken with an attorney. Severance agreements often contain releases of claims — including retaliation claims — that can eliminate your right to sue.
Gather your documentation. Collect any written performance reviews, disciplinary notices, emails, and records related to your workers' comp claim before your access to company systems is cut off.
File your workers' comp claim if you have not already done so. If your termination is preventing you from pursuing your workers' comp case, that compounds the harm. Contact the Missouri Division of Workers' Compensation or speak with a workers' comp attorney about protecting your claim.
Contact a workers' comp attorney immediately. A § 287.780 retaliation claim has its own deadlines. Waiting to see if the situation resolves itself is one of the most common mistakes injured workers make. By the time they contact an attorney, evidence has disappeared and memories have faded. Contact Bur Oak Legal today for a free consultation.
Missouri's Legal Standard: The Motivating Factor Test
To win a § 287.780 retaliation claim, Missouri law does not require you to prove that your workers' compensation claim was the only reason you were fired. The motivating factor standard means that if your claim played any meaningful role in the decision to terminate or discriminate against you, the employer may be liable — even if they had other stated reasons as well.
This is important because it means employers cannot shield themselves simply by manufacturing a second reason for the discharge. Missouri courts have held that if a work related injury and subsequent claim was a motivating factor in the employer's decision, the employee has a viable case. The employer informed of the claim cannot use a thin pretext to escape liability when the underlying motivation was retaliation.
What this means for you as an injured worker: you do not have to prove that every person involved in the termination decision was acting in bad faith. You need to show that your claim factored into the decision — and the circumstances surrounding the termination often speak for themselves. Suspicious timing, pretextual discipline, and inconsistent treatment compared to colleagues are all evidence that points toward an unlawful motivating factor.
Missouri courts also apply scrutiny to situations where the stated legitimate reasons for termination appear only after the employer learned of the workers' compensation claim. If your employer never raised performance concerns until the moment you were injured — or the moment you reported a work related injury — that sequence of events is powerful evidence of retaliation, regardless of what reasons the employer later puts on paper.
Your Workers' Comp Benefits Continue After Termination
One of the most common misconceptions among injured workers is the belief that being fired ends their right to workers' compensation benefits. It does not. Under Missouri workers' compensation law, your entitlement to benefits is tied to the work related injury itself — not to your continued employment. Even if you are no longer employed at the company, you are still entitled to pursue your claim through the Missouri Division of Workers' Compensation.
This means that receiving workers compensation benefits — including payment for medical treatment, coverage of medical bills, and compensation for wage loss — remains available to injured workers even after termination. The employer's decision to fire you does not erase the underlying injury or extinguish the workers' compensation rights that attached the moment you were hurt on the job.
Medical care for a work related injury includes ongoing treatment authorized under the Missouri workers' comp system: doctor visits, physical therapy, surgery if recommended, prescription medications, and any other treatment your authorized treating physician determines is reasonably necessary. If your employer or their insurer is refusing to authorize medical treatment for your work injury after your termination, speak with a workers' comp attorney immediately. Denial of necessary medical care is a separate issue from the retaliation lawsuit — both require attention.
Medical bills from treatment of a work related injury should be covered by workers' compensation, not billed to your personal health insurance. If medical bills are coming to you personally after your termination and the employer's insurer is refusing to pay, that is a dispute you can bring before the Missouri Division of Workers' Compensation. Your medical needs do not stop being the employer's responsibility simply because they fired you.
Permanent Disabilities and Long-Term Wage Loss
Many workers who suffer retaliatory discharge are dealing with serious injuries — not just sprains or minor incidents. When an injury results in a lasting impairment, the financial stakes of the retaliation claim rise significantly, because the permanent disability affects the worker's ability to earn income for years or decades after the termination.
Missouri workers' compensation recognizes two categories of long-term disability. Permanent partial disability applies when a worker suffers lasting impairment but retains some capacity to work. Permanent total disability applies when the injury renders the worker completely unable to engage in any employment for which they might reasonably qualify. Both permanent partial disability and permanent total disability generate ongoing benefit obligations under Missouri law — obligations that survive a retaliatory termination.
When a worker is fired while on light duty following a serious work injury, the wage loss calculation in a retaliation case becomes complex. The wrongful termination claim may need to account for the difference between what the worker was earning at the time of firing and what they would have been able to earn — taking into account the underlying permanent disability. Workers who suffer both a serious work injury and retaliatory discharge may face compounded economic harm that only an attorney experienced in both workers' comp and employment litigation can fully quantify.
If you are dealing with a permanent disability alongside a retaliatory firing, the importance of getting legal assistance immediately cannot be overstated. The interplay between your workers' compensation claim, your disability rating, your wage loss, and your retaliation lawsuit is genuinely complex — and the decisions made in each case can affect the others. Contact Bur Oak Legal to discuss your situation. (573) 499-0200.
When Workers' Comp Retaliation Overlaps With Personal Injury
In some cases, a retaliatory discharge follows a workplace accident that also involves third-party personal injury liability. If your work related injury was caused partly by defective equipment, a negligent contractor, or another party's wrongdoing, you may have a personal injury claim against that third party in addition to your workers' compensation claim and your retaliation lawsuit. These claims do not cancel each other out — Missouri allows injured workers to pursue all available remedies simultaneously.
This is one reason why the support of an attorney experienced in both workers' compensation and personal injury matters so much. The job duties you were performing at the time of injury, the equipment involved, the conditions on the job site — all of these facts can be relevant to multiple claims at once. An employer who attempts to fire you to suppress those claims compounds the harm significantly. When an employer fires you to prevent evidence from surfacing about a dangerous work environment, that decision may carry additional legal consequences beyond the standard § 287.780 retaliation framework.
If you are navigating any combination of a workplace injury, a workers' comp claim, a personal injury case, and now a retaliatory discharge, you need legal support that covers all of it. Bur Oak Legal handles workers' comp and personal injury claims across central Missouri. Call (573) 499-0200 for a free consultation — there is no fee unless we win.
Workers injured on the job in Missouri have legal action available to them beyond the workers' compensation system when their employer retaliates for filing a claim. Whether the retaliation affects your job duties, your pay, or your employment itself, Missouri law provides a direct path to recovery. Do not wait to explore your options — the sooner you act, the stronger your position.