By:  Lucio                                            S.B. No. 1251
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act; defining
    1-2  temporary help firm and temporary employee.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 5, Texas Unemployment Compensation Act
    1-5  (Article 5221b-3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
    1-6  read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 5.  DISQUALIFICATION FOR BENEFITS.  An individual shall
    1-8  be disqualified for benefits:
    1-9        (a)  If the Commission finds that he has left his last work
   1-10  voluntarily without good cause connected with his work.  The
   1-11  disqualification continues until the claimant has returned to
   1-12  employment and either worked for six weeks or earned wages equal to
   1-13  six times his weekly benefit amount, unless the individual left
   1-14  work to move with a spouse from the area in which the individual
   1-15  worked.  In that case, the disqualification shall be for not less
   1-16  than six (6) nor more than twenty-five (25) benefit periods
   1-17  following the filing of a valid claim, as determined by the
   1-18  Commission according to the circumstances in each case.  Provided
   1-19  no claimant shall be disqualified because of his or her leaving due
   1-20  to medically verified illness of the claimant or the claimant's
   1-21  minor child, injury, disability, or pregnancy and is still
   1-22  available for work.  A medically verified illness of a minor child
   1-23  only prevents disqualification under this subsection if there is no
    2-1  reasonable alternative care available to the child and the employer
    2-2  refused to allow the employee a reasonable amount of time off
    2-3  during the illness.  Military personnel who do not reenlist may not
    2-4  be considered to have left work voluntarily without good cause
    2-5  connected with work.  An individual who is partially unemployed and
    2-6  who resigns that employment to accept other employment that the
    2-7  individual reasonably believes will increase the individual's
    2-8  weekly wage is not disqualified under this subsection.  A temporary
    2-9  employee of a temporary help firm will be deemed to have left his
   2-10  last work voluntarily without good cause connected with his work if
   2-11  the temporary employee does not contact the temporary help firm for
   2-12  reassignment on completion of an assignment.  A temporary employee
   2-13  will not be deemed to have left his work voluntarily without good
   2-14  cause connected with his work unless the temporary employee has
   2-15  been advised of the obligation to contact the temporary help firm
   2-16  on completion of assignments and that unemployment benefits may be
   2-17  denied for failure to do so.
   2-18        (b)  If the Commission finds he has been discharged for
   2-19  misconduct connected with his last work.  The disqualification
   2-20  continues until the claimant has returned to employment and either
   2-21  worked for six weeks or earned wages equal to six times his weekly
   2-22  benefit amount.
   2-23        (c)  If the Commission finds that during his current benefit
   2-24  year he has failed, without good cause, either to apply for
   2-25  available, suitable work when so directed by the Commission or to
    3-1  accept suitable work when offered him, or to return to his
    3-2  customary self-employment (if any) when so directed by the
    3-3  Commission.  The disqualification continues until the claimant has
    3-4  returned to employment and either worked for six weeks or earned
    3-5  wages equal to six times his weekly benefit amount.
    3-6              (1)  In determining whether or not any work is suitable
    3-7  for an individual, the Commission shall consider the degree of risk
    3-8  involved to his health, safety and morals at the place of
    3-9  performance of his work, his physical fitness and prior training,
   3-10  his experience and prior earnings, his length of unemployment and
   3-11  prospects for securing local work in his customary occupation, and
   3-12  the distance of the available work from his residence.
   3-13              (2)  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act,
   3-14  no work shall be deemed suitable and benefits shall not be denied
   3-15  under this Act to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to
   3-16  accept new work under any of the following conditions:  (a) If the
   3-17  position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout, or
   3-18  other labor dispute; (b) If the wages, hours, or other conditions
   3-19  of the work offered are substantially less favorable to the
   3-20  individual than those prevailing for similar work in the locality;
   3-21  (c) If as a condition of being employed the individual would be
   3-22  required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain from
   3-23  joining any bona fide labor organization.
   3-24        (d)  For any benefit period with respect to which the
   3-25  Commission finds that his total or partial unemployment is (i) due
    4-1  to the claimant's stoppage of work because of a labor dispute at
    4-2  the factory, establishment, or other premises (including a vessel)
    4-3  at which he is or was last employed, or (ii) because of a labor
    4-4  dispute at another place, either within or without this State,
    4-5  which is owned or operated by the same employing unit which owns or
    4-6  operates the premises at which he is or was last employed, and
    4-7  supplies materials or services necessary to the continued and usual
    4-8  operation of the premises at which he is or was last employed;
    4-9  provided that this subsection shall not apply if it is shown to the
   4-10  satisfaction of the Commission that:
   4-11              (1)  He is not participating in or financing or
   4-12  directly interested in the labor dispute; provided, however, that
   4-13  failure or refusal to cross a picket line or refusal for any reason
   4-14  during the continuance of such labor dispute to accept and perform
   4-15  his available and customary work at the factory, establishment, or
   4-16  other premises (including a vessel) where he is or was last
   4-17  employed shall be considered as participation and interest in the
   4-18  labor dispute; and
   4-19              (2)  He does not belong to a grade or class of workers
   4-20  of which, immediately before the commencement of the labor dispute,
   4-21  there were members employed at the premises (including a vessel) at
   4-22  which the labor dispute occurs, any of whom are participating in or
   4-23  financing or directly interested in the dispute; provided, that if
   4-24  in any case separate branches of work which are commonly conducted
   4-25  as separate businesses in separate premises are conducted in
    5-1  separate departments of the same premises, each such department
    5-2  shall, for the purposes of this subsection, be deemed to be a
    5-3  separate factory, establishment, or other premises; and where a
    5-4  disqualification arises from the employee's failure to meet the
    5-5  requirements of this paragraph (2) of this subsection (d) his
    5-6  disqualification shall cease if he shall show that he is not, and
    5-7  at the time of the labor dispute was not, a member of a labor
    5-8  organization which is the same as, represented by, or directly
    5-9  affiliated with, or that he, or such organization of which he is a
   5-10  member, if any, is not acting in concert or in sympathy with a
   5-11  labor organization involved in the labor dispute at the premises at
   5-12  which the labor dispute occurred, and he has made an unconditional
   5-13  offer to return to work at the premises at which he is or was last
   5-14  employed.
   5-15        (e)  For any benefit period with respect to which he is
   5-16  receiving or has received remuneration in the form of:
   5-17              (1)  Wages in lieu of notice;
   5-18              (2)  Compensation for temporary partial disability,
   5-19  temporary total disability or total and permanent disability under
   5-20  the Workmen's Compensation Law of any State or under a similar law
   5-21  of the United States;
   5-22              (3)  Old Age Benefits under Title II of the Social
   5-23  Security Act as amended, or similar payments under any Act of
   5-24  Congress, or a State Legislature; provided, that if such
   5-25  remuneration is less than the benefits which would otherwise be due
    6-1  under this Act, he shall be entitled to receive for such benefit
    6-2  period, if otherwise eligible, benefits reduced by the amount of
    6-3  such remuneration.  If any such benefits, payable under this
    6-4  subsection, after being reduced by the amount of such remuneration,
    6-5  are not an even multiple of One Dollar ($1), they shall be adjusted
    6-6  to the next higher multiple of One Dollar ($1).
    6-7        (f)  For a benefit period occurring from the date of the sale
    6-8  of a business until the date that an individual is employed and is
    6-9  eligible for benefits based on the wage credits received through
   6-10  the new employment, if:
   6-11              (1)  the business is a corporation and the individual
   6-12  is:
   6-13                    (A)  an officer of the corporation;
   6-14                    (B)  a majority or controlling shareholder in the
   6-15  corporation; and
   6-16                    (C)  involved in the sale of the corporation;
   6-17              (2)  the business is a limited or general partnership
   6-18  and the individual is a limited or general partner who is involved
   6-19  in the sale of the partnership; or
   6-20              (3)  the business is a sole proprietorship and the
   6-21  individual is the proprietor who sells the business.
   6-22        (g)  For the duration of any period of unemployment with
   6-23  respect to which the Commission finds that such individual has left
   6-24  his most recent work for the purpose of attending an established
   6-25  educational institution; provided, that this subsection shall not
    7-1  apply during a period in which an individual is in training with
    7-2  the approval of the Commission.
    7-3        (h)  For weeks of unemployment beginning after March 31,
    7-4  1980, for any benefit period with respect to which the individual
    7-5  is receiving a governmental or other pension, retirement or retired
    7-6  pay, annuity, or any other similar periodic payment which is based
    7-7  on the previous work of the individual and which is reasonably
    7-8  attributable to that benefit period; provided that if the
    7-9  remuneration is less than the benefits which would otherwise be due
   7-10  under this Act, the individual shall be entitled to receive for
   7-11  that benefit period, if otherwise eligible, benefits reduced by the
   7-12  amount of the remuneration.  If those benefits payable under this
   7-13  subsection, after being reduced by the amount of the remuneration,
   7-14  are not an even multiple of One Dollar ($1), they shall be adjusted
   7-15  to the next higher multiple of One Dollar ($1).
   7-16        The Legislature declares that the preceding paragraph is
   7-17  enacted because Section 3304(a)(15) of the Federal Unemployment Tax
   7-18  Act as provided in Public Law 94-566 requires this provision in
   7-19  State law as of January 1, 1978, as a condition for full tax credit
   7-20  against the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act; and it
   7-21  further declares that if Section 3304(a)(15) is amended to provide
   7-22  modifications of these requirements, the modified requirements, to
   7-23  the extent that they are required for full tax credit, shall be
   7-24  considered applicable under the provisions of this Section rather
   7-25  than the provision stated in the preceding paragraph.
    8-1        (i)  This Section does not disqualify a claimant whose
    8-2  work-related reason for separation from employment was urgent,
    8-3  compelling, and of a necessitous nature so as to make separation
    8-4  involuntary.
    8-5        (j)  If the Commission finds that he has left his last work
    8-6  voluntarily rather than provide services included within the course
    8-7  and scope of his employment to an individual infected with a
    8-8  communicable disease.  The disqualification continues until the
    8-9  claimant has returned to employment and either worked for six weeks
   8-10  or earned wages equal to six times the claimant's weekly benefit
   8-11  amount.  A claimant is not disqualified under this subsection
   8-12  unless the individual or organization for whom the claimant last
   8-13  worked made available to the claimant the facilities, equipment,
   8-14  training, and supplies necessary to permit the claimant to take
   8-15  reasonable precautions to preclude the infection of the claimant
   8-16  with the communicable disease.
   8-17        (k)  If the Commission finds that he has been discharged from
   8-18  his last work based on a refusal by him to provide services
   8-19  included within the course and scope of his employment to an
   8-20  individual infected with a communicable disease.  The
   8-21  disqualification continues until the claimant has returned to
   8-22  employment and either worked for six weeks or earned wages equal to
   8-23  six times the claimant's weekly benefit amount.  A claimant is not
   8-24  disqualified under this subsection unless the individual or
   8-25  organization for whom the claimant last worked made available to
    9-1  the claimant the facilities, equipment, training, and supplies
    9-2  necessary to preclude the infection of the claimant with the
    9-3  communicable disease.
    9-4        SECTION 2.  Section 19, Texas Unemployment Compensation Act
    9-5  (Article 5221b-17, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
    9-6  adding Subsections (r) and (s) to read as follows:
    9-7        (r)  "Temporary help firm" means a firm or business that
    9-8  employs individuals for the purpose of assigning them to the
    9-9  temporary help firm's clients to support or supplement the client's
   9-10  work force in work situations such as employee absences, temporary
   9-11  skill shortages, seasonal work loads, and special assignments and
   9-12  projects.  For the purposes of this Act, the temporary help firm is
   9-13  deemed to be the employer of the temporary employee.
   9-14        (s)  "Temporary employee" means an individual employed by a
   9-15  temporary help firm for the purpose of being assigned to work for
   9-16  the clients of a temporary help firm.
   9-17        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   9-18        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   9-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   9-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   9-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   9-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.