By: Longoria H.B. No. 1525
73R6105 PB-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to an employment security program for certain persons who
1-3 sustain an injury in the course and scope of their employment.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article 4, Texas Workers' Compensation Act
1-6 (Article 8308-4.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
1-7 amended by adding Chapter E to read as follows:
1-8 CHAPTER E. EMPLOYMENT SECURITY PROGRAM
1-9 Sec. 4.81. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-10 (1) "Employment security program" means an alternative
1-11 system created by an employer and an employee by contract, under
1-12 which the employee, in lieu of receipt of certain income benefits
1-13 to which the employee would otherwise be entitled, receives
1-14 vocational rehabilitation, retraining, and guaranteed employment in
1-15 a position equivalent in compensation and responsibility to that
1-16 held by the employee before a work-related injury.
1-17 (2) "Program" means an employment security program.
1-18 Sec. 4.82. ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM; RULES. (a) Notwithstanding
1-19 any other provision of this Act or another workers' compensation
1-20 law of this state, an employer who maintains workers' compensation
1-21 insurance through a policy written by an insurance company and an
1-22 employee who has reached maximum medical improvement may establish
1-23 by mutual contract an employment security program as provided by
1-24 this chapter.
2-1 (b) The commission shall adopt rules and standards as
2-2 necessary to implement this chapter.
2-3 Sec. 4.83. CONTRACT. (a) An employer and employee who
2-4 elect to establish an employment security program under this
2-5 chapter shall enter into a written contract regarding the terms of
2-6 the program.
2-7 (b) A program created under this chapter must be designed to
2-8 provide any vocational rehabilitation and retraining to the
2-9 employee injured in the course and scope of the employment with the
2-10 contracting employer that is necessary to enable the employee to
2-11 return to work with the employer. The contract must specify the
2-12 rehabilitation and retraining options to be offered to the affected
2-13 employee.
2-14 (c) The employer shall file a copy of the contract with the
2-15 commission not later than the 10th day after the date on which the
2-16 contract is signed by both parties.
2-17 Sec. 4.84. TRUST ACCOUNT; FUNDING. (a) An employee who
2-18 elects to participate in an employment security program shall file
2-19 a written statement of the election in the form prescribed by the
2-20 commission not later than the 30th day before the date on which the
2-21 employee is scheduled to return to work.
2-22 (b) An employee who elects to participate in an employment
2-23 security program is not entitled to receive impairment income
2-24 benefits or supplemental income benefits under this Act and is
2-25 entitled to receive lifetime income benefits only as provided by
2-26 Section 4.85(c) of this Act. The commission shall determine the
2-27 amount of income benefits to which the employee would otherwise be
3-1 entitled under this Act and shall notify the employee, the
3-2 employer, and the employer's insurance company of the amount. The
3-3 commission shall deliver the notification not later than the 15th
3-4 day after the date on which the commission receives the employee
3-5 statement under Subsection (a) of this section.
3-6 (c) On receipt of notification by the commission under
3-7 Subsection (b) of this section, the insurance company shall deposit
3-8 an amount equal to the amount determined by the commission under
3-9 Subsection (b) of this section in a trust account, to be used only
3-10 by the employer to pay expenses authorized under Subsection (d) of
3-11 this section. An insurance company that deposits money in a trust
3-12 account under this section is not liable to pay benefits to the
3-13 affected employee under the terms of the employer's workers'
3-14 compensation insurance policy and this Act except as provided by
3-15 Section 4.85(c) of this Act. Any balance remaining in the trust
3-16 account on the 10th anniversary of the date on which the trust
3-17 account was created shall be returned to the insurance company and
3-18 becomes the property of the insurance company.
3-19 (d) The employer may pay the costs associated with the
3-20 rehabilitation and retraining of the employee from the trust
3-21 account in the manner provided by commission rules.
3-22 Sec. 4.85. GUARANTY OF EMPLOYMENT. (a) A program
3-23 established under this chapter must provide for continuous
3-24 employment of the employee with the contracting employer until the
3-25 earlier of:
3-26 (1) the 10th anniversary of the date on which the
3-27 employee returns to work; or
4-1 (2) the date on which the employee's entitlement to
4-2 retirement benefits provided through the employer is vested.
4-3 (b) An employee who elects to participate in an employment
4-4 security program may not be discharged by that employer during the
4-5 10-year period except for cause. An employer who discharges an
4-6 employee in violation of this subsection is liable for any loss of
4-7 wages and employer-provided benefits incurred by the employee as a
4-8 result of the violation. A person discharged in violation of this
4-9 subsection is entitled to reinstatement in the same or an
4-10 equivalent position of employment with commensurate pay.
4-11 (c) If the contracting employer ceases to be an employer
4-12 before the 10th anniversary of the date on which the employee
4-13 returns to work, the affected employee may apply to the commission
4-14 for a determination as to the amount of any lifetime income
4-15 benefits or other benefits for which the employee is eligible. If
4-16 the commission determines that the employee is eligible for
4-17 benefits, the employee shall elect either to receive the remaining
4-18 benefits in the manner provided by Section 4.31 of this Act or to
4-19 commute the remainder of the benefits.
4-20 Sec. 4.86. PREMIUM DISCOUNT. An employer who establishes an
4-21 employment security program under this chapter is entitled to a
4-22 discount on the amount of the employer's workers' compensation
4-23 insurance premium in the manner provided by Article 5.55A,
4-24 Insurance Code, and its subsequent amendments.
4-25 SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 5, Insurance Code, is
4-26 amended by adding Article 5.55A to read as follows:
4-27 Art. 5.55A. PREMIUM DISCOUNT FOR EMPLOYERS WHO ESTABLISH
5-1 EMPLOYMENT SECURITY PROGRAMS. (a) In this article, "insurer"
5-2 means a stock company, mutual company, reciprocal, interinsurance
5-3 exchange, Lloyd's association, or other entity authorized to write
5-4 workers' compensation insurance in this state. The term includes
5-5 the Texas Workers' Compensation Insurance Facility and the Texas
5-6 Workers' Compensation Insurance Fund.
5-7 (b) This article applies to an employer who establishes an
5-8 employment security program under Chapter E, Article 4, Texas
5-9 Workers' Compensation Act and its subsequent amendments.
5-10 (c) The board by rule shall adopt a plan under which each
5-11 insurer shall grant a discount to an employer subject to Subsection
5-12 (b) of this article who obtains workers' compensation insurance
5-13 coverage from that insurer and applies for the discount in the
5-14 manner prescribed by the board. The insurer shall grant a discount
5-15 of 10 percent on the amount of the employer's workers' compensation
5-16 premium.
5-17 (d) A discount established under this article is valid for
5-18 the term of the policy or contract of insurance. On renewal of the
5-19 policy, the employer must reapply for the discount in the manner
5-20 prescribed by the board.
5-21 (e) A discount under this article is in addition to any
5-22 other premium discount to which the employer is eligible under this
5-23 code.
5-24 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
5-25 applies only to a workers' compensation insurance policy that is
5-26 delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after January 1,
5-27 1994. A policy that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed
6-1 before January 1, 1994, is governed by the law as it existed
6-2 immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
6-3 continued in effect for that purpose.
6-4 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
6-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.