By Torres H.B. No. 2551
75R738 PB-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to an entitlement to additional wages for certain services
1-3 provided to an employer by bilingual or multilingual employees;
1-4 providing a criminal penalty.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 2, Labor Code, is amended by
1-7 adding Chapter 65 to read as follows:
1-8 CHAPTER 65. ADDITIONAL WAGES FOR CERTAIN SERVICES
1-9 PROVIDED BY BILINGUAL OR MULTILINGUAL EMPLOYEE
1-10 Sec. 65.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-11 (1) "Bilingual employee" means an employee who is
1-12 fluent in a language other than English.
1-13 (2) "Commission" means the Texas Workforce Commission.
1-14 (3) "Employee" means an individual who is employed by
1-15 an employer for compensation. The term does not include:
1-16 (A) a person related to the employer or the
1-17 employer's spouse within the first or second degree by
1-18 consanguinity or affinity, as determined under Chapter 573,
1-19 Government Code; or
1-20 (B) an independent contractor.
1-21 (4) "Employer" means a person who employs one or more
1-22 employees or acts directly or indirectly in the interests of an
1-23 employer in relation to an employee. The term includes a
1-24 governmental entity.
2-1 (5) "Employment" means any service that is performed
2-2 for wages or under a contract of hire, whether written or oral or
2-3 express or implied. The term does not include any service
2-4 performed by an individual for wages if it is shown that the
2-5 individual is free from control or direction in the performance of
2-6 the service, both under any contract of service and in fact.
2-7 (6) "Multilingual employee" means an employee who is
2-8 fluent in at least two languages other than English.
2-9 (7) "Wages" means compensation owed by an employer
2-10 for:
2-11 (A) labor or services rendered by an employee,
2-12 whether computed on a time, task, piece, commission, or other
2-13 basis; and
2-14 (B) vacation pay, holiday pay, sick leave pay,
2-15 parental leave pay, or severance pay owed to an employee under a
2-16 written agreement with the employer or under a written policy of
2-17 the employer.
2-18 Sec. 65.002. ENTITLEMENT TO ADDITIONAL WAGES FOR CERTAIN
2-19 EXTRAORDINARY SERVICES. A bilingual or multilingual employee is
2-20 entitled to appropriate additional wages if the employee provides
2-21 to the person's employer a service that:
2-22 (1) uses the additional language skills possessed by
2-23 the employee; and
2-24 (2) is outside the course and scope of the employee's
2-25 position of employment as indicated by the employee's official job
2-26 description.
2-27 Sec. 65.003. COMMISSION POWERS AND DUTIES; NOTICE. (a) The
3-1 commission by rule shall establish guidelines to determine:
3-2 (1) the types of additional services and the levels of
3-3 fluency in language skills that require an employer to pay
3-4 additional wages under this section; and
3-5 (2) appropriate levels of those additional wages.
3-6 (b) The commission shall adopt appropriate means to notify
3-7 employers of the requirements of this chapter.
3-8 Sec. 65.004. CRIMINAL PENALTY; EXCEPTION. (a) An employer
3-9 commits an offense if the employer requires a bilingual or
3-10 multilingual employee to use for the benefit of the employer the
3-11 additional language skills possessed by the employee without
3-12 payment of additional wages to the employee.
3-13 (b) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
3-14 (c) An employer does not commit an offense under this
3-15 section if the employer, with the written agreement of the affected
3-16 employee and for additional compensation, changes the employee's
3-17 official job description to include within the course and scope of
3-18 the employee's position of employment the use of the additional
3-19 language skills possessed by the employee for the benefit of the
3-20 employer.
3-21 SECTION 2. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
3-22 section, this Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-23 (b) Section 65.004, Labor Code, as added by this Act, takes
3-24 effect January 1, 1998.
3-25 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.