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. The Texas Unemployment Compensation Act (Article
1-5 5221b-1 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) is amended by
1-6 adding the following to Article 5221b-3(a):
1-7 DISQUALIFICATION FOR BENEFITS
1-8 An individual shall 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 qualified 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 upon completion of an assignment. A temporary
2-13 employee will not be deemed to have left his work voluntarily
2-14 without good cause connected with his work unless the temporary
2-15 employee has been advised of the obligation to contact the
2-16 temporary help firm upon completion of assignments and that
2-17 unemployment benefits may be denied for failure to do so.
2-18 SECTION 2. The Texas Unemployment Compensation Act (Article
2-19 5221b-17, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) is amended by adding the
2-20 following sections:
2-21 DEFINITIONS
2-22 As used in this Act, unless the context clearly requires
2-23 otherwise:
2-24 (1) "Temporary help firm" means a firm or business that
2-25 employs individuals for the purpose of assigning them to the
3-1 temporary help firm's clients to support or supplement the client's
3-2 work force in work situations such as employee absences, temporary
3-3 skill shortages, seasonal work loads, and special assignments and
3-4 projects. For the purposes of this Act, the temporary help firm is
3-5 deemed to be the employer of the temporary employee.
3-6 (2) "Temporary employee" means an individual employed by a
3-7 temporary help firm for the purpose of being assigned to work for
3-8 the clients of a temporary help firm.
3-9 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
3-10 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.