By: Greenberg H.B. No. 1560
73R3577 JMM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to employment discrimination based on an employee's
1-3 weight.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 1.04, Commission on Human Rights Act
1-6 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
1-7 adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
1-8 (d) An employee's weight may not be considered a bona fide
1-9 occupational qualification for any purpose under this Act unless an
1-10 employer can demonstrate, on the basis of a medical examination
1-11 conducted by a physician approved by both the employer and the
1-12 employee, that the employee's weight is reasonably likely to
1-13 prevent the employee from performing the employee's duties safely
1-14 and efficiently.
1-15 SECTION 2. Section 4.02, Commission on Human Rights Act
1-16 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
1-17 as follows:
1-18 Sec. 4.02. Local Commissions. A political subdivision or
1-19 two or more political subdivisions acting jointly may create a
1-20 local commission to promote the purposes of this Act and to secure
1-21 for all individuals within the jurisdiction of the political
1-22 subdivision or subdivisions freedom from discrimination because of
1-23 race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, weight, or
1-24 age and may appropriate funds for the expenses of the local
2-1 commission.
2-2 SECTION 3. Section 4.04(a), Commission on Human Rights Act
2-3 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
2-4 as follows:
2-5 (a) The state commission shall refer a complaint filed with
2-6 it to a local commission with the necessary investigatory and
2-7 conciliatory powers if the complaint concerns discrimination in
2-8 employment because of race, color, disability, religion, sex,
2-9 national origin, weight, or age, and:
2-10 (1) the complaint has been referred to the state
2-11 commission by the federal government; or
2-12 (2) the jurisdiction over the subject matter of the
2-13 complaint has been deferred to the state commission by the federal
2-14 government.
2-15 SECTION 4. Section 5.01, Commission on Human Rights Act
2-16 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
2-17 as follows:
2-18 Sec. 5.01. Employers. It is an unlawful employment practice
2-19 for an employer:
2-20 (1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge an
2-21 individual or otherwise to discriminate against an individual with
2-22 respect to compensation or the terms, conditions, or privileges of
2-23 employment because of race, color, disability, religion, sex,
2-24 national origin, weight, or age; or
2-25 (2) to limit, segregate, or classify an employee or
2-26 applicant for employment in a way that would deprive or tend to
2-27 deprive an individual of employment opportunities or otherwise
3-1 adversely affect the status of an employee because of race, color,
3-2 disability, religion, sex, national origin, weight, or age.
3-3 SECTION 5. Section 5.02, Commission on Human Rights Act
3-4 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
3-5 as follows:
3-6 Sec. 5.02. Employment Agencies. It is an unlawful
3-7 employment practice for an employment agency to fail or refuse to
3-8 refer for employment or otherwise to discriminate against an
3-9 individual because of race, color, disability, religion, sex,
3-10 national origin, weight, or age, or to classify or refer for
3-11 employment an individual on the basis of race, color, disability,
3-12 religion, sex, national origin, weight, or age.
3-13 SECTION 6. Section 5.03, Commission on Human Rights Act
3-14 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
3-15 as follows:
3-16 Sec. 5.03. Labor Organizations. It is an unlawful
3-17 employment practice for a labor organization:
3-18 (1) to exclude or to expel from membership or
3-19 otherwise to discriminate against an individual because of race,
3-20 color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, weight, or age;
3-21 (2) to limit, segregate, or classify members or
3-22 applicants for membership or to classify or to fail or refuse to
3-23 refer for employment an individual because of race, color,
3-24 disability, religion, sex, national origin, weight, or age in a
3-25 way:
3-26 (A) that would deprive or tend to deprive an
3-27 individual of employment opportunities; or
4-1 (B) that would limit employment opportunities or
4-2 otherwise adversely affect the status of an employee or of an
4-3 applicant for employment; or
4-4 (3) that would cause or attempt to cause an employer
4-5 to violate this article.
4-6 SECTION 7. Section 5.04(a), Commission on Human Rights Act
4-7 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
4-8 as follows:
4-9 (a) Unless the training or retraining opportunities or
4-10 programs are provided under an affirmative action plan approved
4-11 according to federal law, rule, or order, it is an unlawful
4-12 employment practice for an employer, labor organization, or joint
4-13 labor-management committee controlling an apprenticeship,
4-14 on-the-job, or other training or retraining program to discriminate
4-15 against an individual because of disability, age, race, color,
4-16 religion, sex, weight, or national origin in admission to or
4-17 participation in a program established to provide apprenticeship,
4-18 on-the-job, or other training or retraining opportunities.
4-19 SECTION 8. Section 5.05(b), Commission on Human Rights Act
4-20 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
4-21 as follows:
4-22 (b) Unless disability, religion, sex, national origin,
4-23 weight, or age is a bona fide occupational qualification, it is an
4-24 unlawful employment practice for an employer, labor organization,
4-25 employment agency, or joint labor-management committee controlling
4-26 an apprenticeship, on-the-job, or other training or retraining
4-27 program to print or publish or cause to be printed or published a
5-1 notice or advertisement relating to employment indicating a
5-2 preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination based on
5-3 race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, weight, or
5-4 age, if the notice or advertisement concerns an employee's status,
5-5 employment, or admission to or membership or participation in a
5-6 labor union or an apprenticeship, on-the-job, or other training or
5-7 retraining program.
5-8 SECTION 9. Section 5.07(a), Commission on Human Rights Act
5-9 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
5-10 as follows:
5-11 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, it
5-12 is not an unlawful employment practice:
5-13 (1) for an employer to hire and to employ employees,
5-14 for an employment agency to classify or refer for employment an
5-15 individual, for a labor organization to classify its members or to
5-16 classify or refer for employment an individual, or for an employer,
5-17 labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling
5-18 an apprenticeship, on-the-job, or other training or retraining
5-19 program to admit or employ an individual in its program, on the
5-20 basis of disability, religion, sex, national origin, weight, or
5-21 age, if disability, religion, sex, national origin, weight, or age
5-22 is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to
5-23 the normal operation of the particular business or enterprise;
5-24 (2) for a religious corporation, association, society,
5-25 or educational institution or an educational organization operated,
5-26 supervised, or controlled, in whole or in substantial part, by a
5-27 religious corporation, association, or society to limit employment
6-1 or give preference to members of the same religion;
6-2 (3) for an employer to apply different standards of
6-3 compensation or different terms, conditions, or privileges of
6-4 employment under a bona fide seniority system, bona fide merit
6-5 system, or a bona fide employee benefit plan such as a retirement,
6-6 pension, or insurance plan, which is not a subterfuge to evade this
6-7 Act, or under a system that measures earnings by quantity or
6-8 quality of production if those different standards are not
6-9 discriminatory on the basis of race, color, disability, religion,
6-10 sex, national origin, weight, or age, except that no employee
6-11 benefit plan may excuse a failure to hire on the basis of age and
6-12 no seniority or employee benefit plan may require or permit
6-13 involuntary retirement on the basis of age;
6-14 (4) for an employer to apply to employees who work in
6-15 different locations different standards of compensation or
6-16 different terms, conditions, or privileges of employment if those
6-17 different standards are not discriminatory on the basis of race,
6-18 color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, weight, or age;
6-19 (5) for an employer to impose minimum or maximum age
6-20 requirements for peace officers or fire fighters;
6-21 (6) for a public school official to adopt or implement
6-22 a plan reasonably designed to end discriminatory school practices;
6-23 or
6-24 (7) for an employer to engage in any practice that has
6-25 a discriminatory effect and that would otherwise be prohibited by
6-26 this Act if the employer establishes that the practice is not
6-27 intentionally devised or operated to contravene the prohibitions of
7-1 this Act and is justified by business necessity.
7-2 SECTION 10. Section 5.09, Commission on Human Rights Act
7-3 (Article 5221k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
7-4 as follows:
7-5 Sec. 5.09. Imbalance Plans. This Act may not be interpreted
7-6 to require a person subject to this Act to grant preferential
7-7 treatment to an individual or to a group on the basis of the race,
7-8 color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, weight, or age
7-9 of that individual or group because an imbalance exists between the
7-10 total number or percentage of persons of that individual's or
7-11 group's race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin,
7-12 weight, or age employed by an employer, referred or classified for
7-13 employment by an employment agency or labor organization, admitted
7-14 to membership or classified by a labor organization, or admitted to
7-15 or employed in any apprenticeship, on-the-job, or other training or
7-16 retraining program, and the total number or percentage of persons
7-17 of that race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin,
7-18 weight, or age in any community, this state, region, or other area,
7-19 or in the available work force in any community, this state,
7-20 region, or other area.
7-21 SECTION 11. The importance of this legislation and the
7-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-27 passage, and it is so enacted.