By: Maxey H.B. No. 96
73R117 MJW-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to grievance and complaint resolution procedures for
1-3 certain state employees.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
1-6 (1) "Aggrieved employee" means an employee of a state
1-7 agency who presents a grievance or a complaint under this Act.
1-8 (2) "Commission" means the Texas Employment
1-9 Commission.
1-10 (3) "Complaint" means a written expression of
1-11 dissatisfaction presented by an employee regarding:
1-12 (A) compensation;
1-13 (B) work hours; or
1-14 (C) another issue related to employment
1-15 conditions that does not constitute a grievance.
1-16 (4) "Employee" means a person employed either
1-17 full-time or part-time by a state agency who is in a position
1-18 subject to the state position classification plan or an analogous
1-19 classification plan in effect at an institution of higher education
1-20 or who is exempt from a classification plan but compensated at a
1-21 rate not to exceed the amount prescribed by the General
1-22 Appropriations Act for step 1, salary group 21, of the position
1-23 classification salary schedule. The term does not include a
1-24 probationary or seasonal employee.
2-1 (5) "Executive director" means the chief
2-2 administrative officer of a state agency. The term includes the
2-3 president of an institution of higher education.
2-4 (6) "Grievance" means a written expression of
2-5 dissatisfaction presented by an employee regarding the fact that
2-6 the employee has been:
2-7 (A) terminated from employment;
2-8 (B) demoted; or
2-9 (C) suspended without pay.
2-10 (7) "State agency" means a department, commission,
2-11 board, office, or other agency in the executive branch of state
2-12 government created by the constitution or a statute of this state.
2-13 The term includes an institution of higher education as defined by
2-14 Section 61.003, Education Code.
2-15 (8) "Supervisor" means the immediate supervisor of an
2-16 aggrieved employee.
2-17 SECTION 2. POLICY; EXISTING RIGHTS UNAFFECTED. (a) An
2-18 employee is entitled to due process under this Act in the review of
2-19 a decision that affects the employee's working conditions or
2-20 employment and may not be dismissed from the employment without
2-21 cause.
2-22 (b) This Act does not affect a right existing on the
2-23 effective date of this Act relating to an employee's ability to use
2-24 an established dispute resolution process concerning the
2-25 employee's:
2-26 (1) wages;
2-27 (2) work hours; or
3-1 (3) other conditions of employment.
3-2 SECTION 3. RULES. A state agency by rule shall adopt
3-3 standards and procedures in accordance with this Act relating to
3-4 the resolution of a grievance or complaint presented by an employee
3-5 of the agency.
3-6 SECTION 4. INTERNAL AGENCY PROCEDURE. (a) The executive
3-7 director shall issue a written decision concerning the resolution
3-8 or denial of a grievance or complaint not later than the 60th day
3-9 after the date on which the grievance or complaint is filed with
3-10 the state agency under rules adopted by the agency under Section 3
3-11 of this Act.
3-12 (b) Review of a complaint by the executive director or the
3-13 executive director's designee is the final review to which an
3-14 employee is entitled for the complaint.
3-15 (c) The executive director's decision on a complaint is
3-16 final and binding.
3-17 (d) The executive director's decision on a grievance is
3-18 final and binding in the absence of a timely appeal.
3-19 SECTION 5. APPEAL TO COMMISSION; JUDICIAL REVIEW. (a) If a
3-20 grievance is not resolved to the employee's satisfaction by the
3-21 executive director, the aggrieved employee may appeal the grievance
3-22 to the Texas Employment Commission. The employee must request the
3-23 appeal on a form provided by the commission not later than the 20th
3-24 day after the date on which the employee receives the executive
3-25 director's decision.
3-26 (b) The commission shall conduct a hearing on the grievance
3-27 not later than the 20th day after the date on which the request for
4-1 an appeal is received by the commission. A hearings examiner
4-2 employed by the commission shall conduct the hearing.
4-3 (c) A hearing conducted under this section is subject to the
4-4 contested case provisions of the Administrative Procedure and Texas
4-5 Register Act (Article 6252-13a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
4-6 (d) If the hearings examiner renders a decision favorable to
4-7 the employee, the state agency shall pay the costs of a hearing
4-8 conducted under this section. If the decision is favorable to the
4-9 agency, the costs shall be divided equally between the state agency
4-10 and the aggrieved employee.
4-11 (e) An employee who has exhausted all administrative
4-12 remedies under this Act and who is aggrieved by the final decision
4-13 of the commission hearings examiner is entitled to judicial review
4-14 as provided by the Administrative Procedure and Texas Register Act
4-15 (Article 6252-13a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) for judicial
4-16 review of a contested case.
4-17 SECTION 6. TIME OFF. (a) An employee is entitled to a
4-18 reasonable amount of time off with pay to prepare for and to attend
4-19 a meeting or hearing conducted under this Act for the resolution of
4-20 a grievance or complaint.
4-21 (b) A state agency shall adopt rules relating to an
4-22 employee's entitlement to time off under this section.
4-23 SECTION 7. RETALIATION PROHIBITED. (a) An employee may not
4-24 be disciplined, penalized, or prejudiced for exercising a right to
4-25 which the employee is entitled under this Act.
4-26 (b) If the rules adopted by a state agency under Section 3
4-27 of this Act authorize the supervisor of an employee presenting a
5-1 grievance or complaint to render a decision relating to the
5-2 resolution of the grievance or complaint, the supervisor may not
5-3 be:
5-4 (1) disciplined, penalized, or prejudiced for
5-5 rendering a decision favorable to an aggrieved employee; or
5-6 (2) coerced or restrained in making a decision under
5-7 this Act.
5-8 SECTION 8. DATE FOR ADOPTING RULES. A state agency shall
5-9 adopt rules as provided by Sections 3 and 6 of this Act not later
5-10 than January 1, 1994.
5-11 SECTION 9. EFFECTIVE DATE; TRANSITION. This Act takes
5-12 effect September 1, 1993, and applies to a grievance or complaint
5-13 discovered by an employee on or after January 1, 1994. A grievance
5-14 or complaint discovered by an employee before January 1, 1994, is
5-15 covered by the law in effect immediately before September 1, 1993,
5-16 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
5-17 SECTION 10. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
5-18 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.