HBA-TYH H.B. 634 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 634
By: Hochberg
Business & Industry
3/10/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Established on April 1, 1990, as part of a broad legislative effort to
reform the state's workers' compensation system, part of the mission of the
Texas Workers' Compensation Commission (commission) is to "promote an
effective and efficient system for the delivery of fair and appropriate
benefits to those who suffer work-related injuries or illnesses."  However,
the goal of compensating workers based on actual earnings is not currently
being achieved for persons relying on multiple employment for support.  At
the present time, a person who holds more than one job and becomes injured
while at work may only be compensated for wages lost from the job where the
injury occurred, even if the person relies on both salaries for support.
H.B. 634 requires the commission to account for wages lost from both jobs
when computing the average weekly wage. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter C, Chapter 408, Labor Code, by adding Section
408.0445, as follows: 

Sec. 408.0445.  AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE FOR EMPLOYEE WITH MULTIPLE EMPLOYMENT.
(a)  Defines "employee with multiple employment" as an employee who, at the
time of the injury, earned wages from more than one employer.  
 
(b)  Provides that for determining the amount of temporary income benefits,
impairment income benefits, supplemental income benefits, lifetime income
benefits, or death benefits of an employee with multiple employment, the
average weekly wage of the employee is computed by dividing the amount of
total wages earned by the employee during the 12 months immediately
preceding the date of the injury by 50.  

(c)  Requires the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission to compute the
average weekly wage at the time of the injury in a manner that is fair and
just to both parties, if the commission determines that computing the
average weekly wage for an employee with multiple employment as provided by
this section is impractical. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.
  Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.