Relating to restitution for claims arising from state employees committing unfair or discriminatory employment practices, including personal liability insurance requirements

Under current law, the state has waived sovereign immunity for certain tort claims, which are defined as monetary, pursuant to the Iowa tort claims Act, Code chapter 669. Under current law, if a state employee is acting within the scope of the employee’s office or employment, the state will defend and will indemnify and hold harmless the employee or substitute as the defendant in place of the state employee. Thus under current law, unless the employee is acting outside the scope of the employee’s office or employment, the employee is not personally liable for torts. In accordance with the Iowa civil rights Act, Code chapter 216, and federal law, it is unlawful for state employees to engage in unfair or discriminatory employment practices. Under the bill, the state will defend, but will not indemnify and hold harmless a defendant state employee if the claims arise out of the employee committing unfair or discriminatory employment practices in violation of state or federal law. Under the bill, if a state employee is accused of employment discrimination and it results in an award by a court, the state would pay the award but then would be required to seek restitution from the offending state employee. The result would allow the plaintiff to receive an award from the state but would require the state to recover as much of a court-ordered award as possible from the offending state employee.9 requires each department head and director or administrator of an independent agency to obtain personal liability insurance to insure against any claim that the person committed an unfair or discriminatory employment practice in violation of law.