Court will not rehear part of graduate workers case

The Missouri Western District Court of Appeals filed a notice on Tuesday stating that part of the University of Missouri’s appeal in a case over the employment status of graduate workers will not be reheard or transferred to the state Supreme Court.

Lawyers representing MU previously asked the appeals court to rehear the case over the employment status of graduate workers or for the state Supreme Court to take up the case.

Tuesday’s notice denied the request for the part of the case that argues graduate workers are employees.

The appeals court ruled last month that graduate workers are employees under legal definitions and entitled to collective bargaining rights.

The case was filed in 2016 in Boone County by the Coalition of Graduate Workers, an organization formed to lobby for graduate student workers and represent them in collective bargaining. The university refused to recognize the union as a bargaining representative after a vote of graduate students held in April 2016, prompting the suit.

In its ruling last month, the appeals court sent the question over the legality of that election back to Boone County court for further litigation.

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