1-1     By:  McCall, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Nelson)          H.B. No. 341
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 16, 1999;
 1-3     April 19, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Economic Development; May 5, 1999, reported adversely, with
 1-5     favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays
 1-6     0; May 5, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 341                   By:  Sibley
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the use of certain information regarding a current or
1-11     former employee.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Title 3, Labor Code, is amended by adding Chapter
1-14     103 to read as follows:
1-15        CHAPTER 103.  DISCLOSURE BY EMPLOYER OF INFORMATION REGARDING
1-16                    CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OR FORMER EMPLOYEES
1-17           Sec. 103.001.  PURPOSE; LEGISLATIVE FINDING.  The legislature
1-18     finds that the disclosure by an employer of truthful information
1-19     regarding a current or former employee protects employment
1-20     relationships and benefits the public welfare.  It is the intent of
1-21     the legislature that an employer who makes a disclosure based on
1-22     information obtained by the employer that any employer would
1-23     reasonably believe to be true should be immune from civil liability
1-24     for that disclosure.
1-25           Sec. 103.002.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
1-26                 (1)  "Employee" means a person who performs services
1-27     for an employer, whether or not for compensation.
1-28                 (2)  "Employer" means a person who has one or more
1-29     employees or other individuals who perform services under a
1-30     contract of hire or service, whether expressed or implied, or oral
1-31     or written.
1-32                 (3)  "Job performance" means the manner in which an
1-33     employee performs a position of employment and includes an analysis
1-34     of the employee's  attendance at work, attitudes, effort,
1-35     knowledge, behaviors, and skills.
1-36                 (4)  "Prospective employee" means any person who has
1-37     made an application, either oral or written, or has sent a resume
1-38     or other correspondence indicating an interest in employment.
1-39                 (5)  "Prospective employer" means an employer to whom a
1-40     prospective employee has made an application, either oral or
1-41     written, or sent a resume or other correspondence expressing an
1-42     interest in employment.
1-43           Sec. 103.003.  AUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE; APPLICATION TO CERTAIN
1-44     EMPLOYEES.  (a)  An employer may disclose information about a
1-45     current or former employee's job performance to a prospective
1-46     employer of the current or former employee on  the request of the
1-47     prospective employer or the employee.
1-48           (b)  An employer may not disclose information about a
1-49     licensed nurse or licensed vocational nurse that relates to conduct
1-50     that is protected under Article 4525d, Revised Statutes.  The
1-51     employer must provide an affected nurse an opportunity to submit a
1-52     statement of reasonable length to the employer to establish the
1-53     application of Article 4525d, Revised Statutes.
1-54           Sec. 103.004.  IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL LIABILITY; EMPLOYER
1-55     REPRESENTATIVES.  (a)  An employer who discloses information about
1-56     a current or former employee under Section 103.003 is immune from
1-57     civil liability for that disclosure or any damages proximately
1-58     caused by that disclosure unless it is proven by clear and
1-59     convincing evidence that the information disclosed was known by
1-60     that employer to be false at the time the disclosure was made or
1-61     that the disclosure was made with malice or in reckless disregard
1-62     for the truth or falsity of the information disclosed.  For
1-63     purposes of this subsection, "known" means actual knowledge based
1-64     on information relating to the employee, including any information
 2-1     maintained in a file by the employer on that employee.
 2-2           (b)  This chapter applies to a managerial employee or other
 2-3     representative of the employer who is authorized to provide and who
 2-4     provides information in accordance with this chapter in the same
 2-5     manner that it applies to an employer.
 2-6           Sec. 103.005.  EMPLOYMENT REFERENCE.  This chapter does not
 2-7     require an employer to provide an employment reference to or about
 2-8     a current or former employee.
 2-9           SECTION 2.  Chapter 103, Labor Code, as added by this Act,
2-10     applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after the
2-11     effective date of this Act.  A cause of action that accrues before
2-12     that date is governed by the law as it existed immediately before
2-13     the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
2-14     for that purpose.
2-15           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-16           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-21                                  * * * * *