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House Bill 550 |
House Author: Dukes et al. |
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Effective: 6-15-07 |
Senate Sponsor: Zaffirini |
Previous law specified that unemployment benefits paid to an employee or former employee could not be charged back to the employer's unemployment tax account and an employee could not be denied unemployment benefits if the employee resigned because of family violence or stalking and provided three forms of documentation of such activity, one of which was a physician’s statement or other medical record of family violence. House Bill 550 amends the Labor Code to prohibit the chargeback or denial of benefits if the employee presents any one of the forms of documentation and requires that the physician’s statement or medical record identify the employee as the patient and relate to the patient's history, diagnosis, treatment, or prognosis. The bill also prohibits a chargeback or denial of benefits if the employee left the workplace to care for the employee's terminally ill spouse as evidenced by a physician's statement or other medical documentation, but only if no reasonable alternative care was available. In addition, the bill provides that evidence regarding an employee who resigned because of family violence or stalking, rather than a part-time employee who resigned to accept higher-paying employment, may not be disclosed to any person without the employee's consent.