76R8147 PB-F By McCall, Junell, Brimer, Keffer, Luna, H.B. No. 341 et al. Substitute the following for H.B. No. 341: By Brimer C.S.H.B. No. 341 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 a position of employment and includes an analysis 1-18 of the employee's attendance at work, attitudes, effort, 1-19 knowledge, behaviors, and skills. 1-20 (4) "Prospective employee" means any person who has 1-21 made an application, either oral or written, or has sent a resume 1-22 or other correspondence indicating an interest in employment. 1-23 (5) "Prospective employer" means an employer to whom a 1-24 prospective employee has made an application, either oral or 2-1 written, or sent a resume or other correspondence expressing an 2-2 interest in employment. 2-3 Sec. 103.002. AUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE. An employer may 2-4 disclose information about a current or former employee's job 2-5 performance to a prospective employer of the current or former 2-6 employee on the request of the prospective employer or the 2-7 employee. 2-8 Sec. 103.003. IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL LIABILITY; EMPLOYER 2-9 REPRESENTATIVES. (a) An employer who discloses information about 2-10 a current or former employee under Section 103.002 is immune from 2-11 civil liability for that disclosure or any damages proximately 2-12 caused by that disclosure unless it is proven by the preponderance 2-13 of the evidence that the information disclosed was known by that 2-14 employer to be false at the time the disclosure was made. For 2-15 purposes of this subsection, "known" means actual knowledge based 2-16 on information relating to the employee that is retained, at the 2-17 time of the disclosure, in the file maintained by the employer on 2-18 that employee, and includes a transcription of any information 2-19 conveyed orally by the employer to the employee. 2-20 (b) This chapter applies to a managerial employee or other 2-21 representative of the employer who is authorized to provide and who 2-22 provides information in accordance with this chapter in the same 2-23 manner that it applies to an employer. 2-24 Sec. 103.004. EMPLOYMENT REFERENCE. This chapter does not 2-25 require an employer to provide an employment reference to or about 2-26 a current or former employee. 2-27 SECTION 2. Chapter 103, Labor Code, as added by this Act, 3-1 applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after the 3-2 effective date of this Act. A cause of action that accrues before 3-3 that date is governed by the law as it existed immediately before 3-4 the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect 3-5 for that purpose. 3-6 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. 3-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the 3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.