By Nelson                                        S.B. No. 990

      75R1592 PB-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the use of certain information regarding a current or

 1-3     former employee.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Title 3, Labor Code, is amended by adding Chapter

 1-6     103 to read as follows:

 1-7        CHAPTER 103.  DISCLOSURE BY EMPLOYER OF INFORMATION REGARDING

 1-8                    CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OR FORMER EMPLOYEES

 1-9           Sec. 103.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:

1-10                 (1)  "Employee" means a person who performs services

1-11     for an employer, whether or not for compensation.

1-12                 (2)  "Employer" means a person who has one or more

1-13     employees or other individuals who perform services under a

1-14     contract of hire or service, whether expressed or implied, or oral

1-15     or written.

1-16                 (3)  "Job performance" means the manner in which an

1-17     employee performs the duties and responsibilities of a position of

1-18     employment and includes an analysis of the employee's  attendance

1-19     at work, attitude toward the job, effort, knowledge, and skills, as

1-20     exemplified through evaluations, awards, demotions, promotions,

1-21     disciplinary actions, and other analogous personnel actions.

1-22                 (4)  "Prospective employee" means any person who has

1-23     made an application, either oral or written, or has sent a resume

1-24     or other correspondence indicating an interest in employment.

 2-1                 (5)  "Prospective employer" means an employer to whom a

 2-2     prospective employee has made an application, either oral or

 2-3     written, or sent a resume or other correspondence expressing an

 2-4     interest in employment.

 2-5           Sec. 103.002.  AUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE.  An employer may

 2-6     disclose information about a current or former employee's job

 2-7     performance to a prospective employer of the current or former

 2-8     employee on  the request of the prospective employer or the

 2-9     employee.

2-10           Sec. 103.003.  INFORMATION PROVIDED TO APPLICANT FOR

2-11     EMPLOYMENT.  (a)  On receipt of a written request by an applicant

2-12     for employment, a prospective employer shall provide to the

2-13     applicant, not later than the 10th day after the date on which the

2-14     request is received by the employer, copies of all written

2-15     communications from current and former employers of the applicant

2-16     that may reasonably be believed to affect the applicant's

2-17     possibility of employment with the prospective employer.

2-18           (b)  An applicant for employment must make a request under

2-19     Subsection (a) not later than the 30th day after the date on which

2-20     the applicant completes the application process required by the

2-21     prospective employer.

2-22           Sec. 103.004.  IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL LIABILITY; EMPLOYER

2-23     REPRESENTATIVES.  (a)  An employer who discloses information about

2-24     a current or former employee is immune from civil liability for

2-25     that disclosure or any damages proximately caused by that

2-26     disclosure unless it is proven by clear and convincing evidence

2-27     that the information disclosed was known by that employer to be

 3-1     false at the time the disclosure was made.

 3-2           (b)  This chapter applies to a managerial employee or other

 3-3     representative of the employer who is authorized to provide and who

 3-4     provides information in accordance with this chapter in the same

 3-5     manner that it applies to an employer.

 3-6           Sec. 103.005.  EMPLOYMENT REFERENCE.  This chapter does not

 3-7     require an employer to provide an employment reference to or about

 3-8     a current or former employee.

 3-9           SECTION 2.  Chapter 103, Labor Code, as added by this Act,

3-10     applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after the

3-11     effective date of this Act.  A cause of action that accrues before

3-12     that date is governed by the law as it existed immediately before

3-13     the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect

3-14     for that purpose.

3-15           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

3-16           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.