By Tillery H.B. No. 501
76R2207 JMM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the eligibility for unemployment benefits of
1-3 individuals who are unemployed due to certain labor disputes.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 207.048, Labor Code, is amended by
1-6 amending Subsections (a), (b), and (f) and adding Subsection (g) to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 (a) An individual is disqualified for benefits for a benefit
1-9 period in which the individual's total or partial unemployment is
1-10 caused by[:]
1-11 [(1)] the individual's stoppage of work because of a
1-12 labor dispute at the factory, establishment, or other premises
1-13 where the individual is or was last employed[; or]
1-14 [(2) a labor dispute at another place that:]
1-15 [(A) is owned or operated by the same employing
1-16 unit that owns or operates the premises where the individual is or
1-17 was last employed; and]
1-18 [(B) supplies material or services necessary to
1-19 the continued and usual operation of the premises where the
1-20 individual is or was last employed].
1-21 (b) Disqualification for benefits under this section does
1-22 not apply to an individual who shows to the satisfaction of the
1-23 commission that the individual:
1-24 (1) is not participating in, financing, or directly
2-1 interested in the labor dispute; [and]
2-2 (2) does not belong to a grade or class of workers any
2-3 members of which were employed at the premises of the labor dispute
2-4 immediately before the beginning of the labor dispute and any of
2-5 whom are participating in, financing, or directly interested in the
2-6 dispute;
2-7 (3) has been locked out of the individual's place of
2-8 employment; or
2-9 (4) has been placed on emergency leave without pay by
2-10 the individual's employer.
2-11 (f) For the purposes of this section:[,]
2-12 (1) "Lock out" means the denial of entry by an
2-13 employer to the place of employment of employees of that employer
2-14 who have not:
2-15 (A) gone on strike; or
2-16 (B) notified the employer of a date on which the
2-17 employees intend to go on strike.
2-18 (2) "Premises" ["premises"] includes a vessel.
2-19 (g) For the purposes of Subsection (b), the payment of
2-20 regular union dues by an individual does not constitute financing a
2-21 labor dispute.
2-22 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-27 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-1 passage, and it is so enacted.