| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the employment status of certain remote service |
|
|
workers. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subtitle E, Title 2, Labor Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Chapter 94 to read as follows: |
|
|
CHAPTER 94. REMOTE SERVICE CONTRACTORS |
|
|
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS |
|
|
Sec. 94.0001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the |
|
|
Remote Service Marketplace Platforms Act. |
|
|
Sec. 94.0002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: |
|
|
(1) "Digital application" means an Internet-connected |
|
|
software application that a person uses to obtain or provide a |
|
|
remote service. |
|
|
(2) "Marketplace company" means a person that: |
|
|
(A) offers a digital application to the public; |
|
|
and |
|
|
(B) accepts requests for remote services |
|
|
exclusively through the person's digital application. |
|
|
(3) "Remote service" means a service designed to |
|
|
assist others that a person performs remotely through a digital |
|
|
application. The term includes tutoring, closed captioning, open |
|
|
captioning, subtitling, transcribing, translating, interpreting, |
|
|
and conducting a language assessment remotely through a digital |
|
|
application. |
|
|
(4) "Remote service contractor" means a person who |
|
|
uses a marketplace company's digital application to provide a |
|
|
remote service to another person. |
|
|
Sec. 94.0003. NONAPPLICABILITY. This chapter does not |
|
|
apply to services performed by an individual in the employ of: |
|
|
(1) a state, a political subdivision of a state, or an |
|
|
Indian tribe or an instrumentality of a state, political |
|
|
subdivision of a state, or Indian tribe that is wholly owned by one |
|
|
or more states, political subdivisions, or Indian tribes, provided |
|
|
that the services are excluded from employment as defined in the |
|
|
Federal Unemployment Tax Act (26 U.S.C. Section 3301 et seq.) |
|
|
solely because of Section 3306(c)(7) of that Act; or |
|
|
(2) a religious, charitable, educational, or other |
|
|
organization, provided that the services are excluded from |
|
|
employment as defined in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (26 |
|
|
U.S.C. Section 3301 et seq.) solely because of Section 3306(c)(8) |
|
|
of that Act. |
|
|
SUBCHAPTER B. EMPLOYMENT STATUS |
|
|
Sec. 94.0101. CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH REMOTE SERVICE |
|
|
CONTRACTOR IS NOT EMPLOYEE. (a) A remote service contractor is not |
|
|
an employee of a marketplace company if, under the agreement |
|
|
between the remote service contractor and the marketplace company |
|
|
and in fact: |
|
|
(1) all or substantially all of the work the remote |
|
|
service contractor performs under the agreement: |
|
|
(A) is on a per-job or per-transaction basis; and |
|
|
(B) is compensated on an hourly, per-job, or |
|
|
per-transaction basis; |
|
|
(2) the marketplace company does not: |
|
|
(A) prescribe specific hours during which the |
|
|
remote service contractor must be available to accept a request for |
|
|
remote service; |
|
|
(B) prescribe a specific location at which the |
|
|
remote service contractor must be available to perform a remote |
|
|
service; or |
|
|
(C) restrict the remote service contractor from |
|
|
engaging in another occupation or business; and |
|
|
(3) except for the use of the marketplace company's |
|
|
digital application, the remote service contractor is responsible |
|
|
for providing the necessary tools, materials, and equipment to |
|
|
perform a remote service requested by a person through the |
|
|
marketplace company's digital application. |
|
|
(b) A marketplace company's act of screening or training a |
|
|
remote service contractor does not affect the remote service |
|
|
contractor's employment status under this chapter. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |