The Cole County Courthouse in downtown Jefferson City (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
An administrative law judge fired last year won’t be reinstated and another who took a pay cut while on active military duty won’t win back his lost salary, a Cole County judge decided.
In a ruling issued Oct. 23, Circuit Judge Cotton Walker said administrative law judges, who work in the Division of Workers’ Compensation and hear disputes over claims, are not entitled to any more job or pay protections than any other state employee.
The decision means former state Rep. Gina Mitten of Richmond Heights, who was appointed as an administrative law judge in 2021 and fired in May 2024, will not get her job back. And Ryan Asbridge, appointed in 2019 but on active duty with the Air Force since 2021, will receive only three weeks of pay each year while away from his state duties.
Mitten and Asbridge filed the lawsuit in August 2024. Andy Hirth, the attorney for Mitten and Asbridge, said they will appeal the decision.
“We basically think that the courts found in favor of the state contrary to the plain language of Missouri statutes,” Hirth said.
In the lawsuit, Mitten argued that state law is clear that administrative law judges can only be discharged or removed if three of five members on a review committee vote no confidence after two successive performance audits two years apart.
Walker disagreed, pointing to another state law that states employees of the executive branch “may be discharged for no reason or any reason not prohibited by law.”
The law for biennial performance reviews, Walker said, “does not limit the executive branch’s appointing authority by prohibiting the unilateral termination of employment of an ALJ with or without cause.”
Around the same time division Director Pamela Lewis fired Mitten, she informed Asbridge that the department would no longer pay his entire salary of approximately $120,000 a year while he was deployed with the Air Force. Asbridge had received approximately $335,000 in pay while away from his state duties.
Asbridge received no other payments after he received a new deployment in June 2024 until after Oct. 1, 2024, the start of the federal fiscal year, when the state paid him salary for three weeks.
In the lawsuit, Asbridge argued that because his salary is set by statute, the state must pay him regardless of hours worked. The lawsuit cited an attorney general’s opinion from 1998.
Walker, however, ruled that Asbridge’s pay status is governed by a law that allows 120 hours of pay for employees and officers of the state on leave to perform active duty with the National Guard or other armed forces.
“Asbridge is entitled to 120 hours, or three weeks’ pay, per federal fiscal year during his
leave of absence for military duties,” Walker wrote. The department “could pay him more, up to his full salary, but the law does not require this of (the department).”
Mitten, a Democrat, was a member of the Missouri House from 2013 to 2021. She is seeking nomination for the state Senate in the 4th District in 2026.
Mitten could not be reached for comment.
Asbridge, who is listed among the 26 administrative law judges, remains on active duty and has received orders extending his service to at least August 2025, Hirth said.
The decision, if it stands, has implications for every executive branch employee, he said.
“The language of that ruling is so broad,” Hirth said, “that if that is right, then the governor of Missouri can fire any employee from any commission including the Missouri Ethics Commission, Administrative Hearing Commission or anywhere.”
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This post was originally authored and published by Rudi Keller from Missouri Independent via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.
