By Coleman H.B. No. 1978 74R6566 JMM-D A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the application of certain laws prohibiting employment 1-3 discrimination. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Section 21.002, Labor Code, is amended by adding 1-6 Subdivision (14) to read as follows: 1-7 (14) "Agent" means a person who acts for or subject to 1-8 the control of another under an express or implied contract or 1-9 agreement or under law. 1-10 SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 21, Labor Code, is amended 1-11 by adding Section 21.130 to read as follows: 1-12 Sec. 21.130. UNDUE HARDSHIP. (a) For the purposes of the 1-13 defense of undue hardship in a complaint or allegation of 1-14 discrimination based on disability, an undue hardship requires a 1-15 demonstration of suffering or privation, economic or otherwise, 1-16 that is an excessive burden, impairment, or hindrance to the 1-17 operation or purposes of the person who raises the defense. 1-18 (b) A person who raises the defense of undue hardship bears 1-19 the burden of establishing that an undue hardship exists in 1-20 relation to the size, facility, budget, type of operation, and cost 1-21 of the accommodation. 1-22 (c) A person who requests a reasonable accommodation must be 1-23 allowed to provide the person's own accommodation or to pay part of 1-24 the cost of the accommodation that results in the claimed undue 2-1 hardship. 2-2 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and 2-3 applies only to a cause of action that arises on or after that 2-4 date. A cause of action that arises before the effective date of 2-5 this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the cause of 2-6 action arose, and the former law is continued in effect for that 2-7 purpose. 2-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the 2-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.