By Allen                                               H.B. No. 583
         76R1844 JMM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to certain notification requirements for an employer of a
 1-3     child, a person with mental retardation, or a person who is
 1-4     mentally incapacitated.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  The heading for Subtitle B, Title 2, Labor Code,
 1-7     is amended to read as follows:
 1-8         SUBTITLE B.  LABOR REQUIREMENTS AND RESTRICTIONS [ON LABOR]
 1-9           SECTION 2.  Subtitle B, Title 2, Labor Code, is amended by
1-10     adding Chapter 53 to read as follows:
1-11               CHAPTER 53.  EMPLOYER NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
1-12           Sec. 53.001.  DEFINITION.  In this chapter, "child" means an
1-13     individual under 18 years of age.
1-14           Sec. 53.002.  NOTIFICATION TO EMPLOYEE'S PARENT OR GUARDIAN.
1-15     (a)  An employer who employs a person who is a child, a person with
1-16     mental retardation, or a person who is mentally incapacitated shall
1-17     notify that person's parent or legal  guardian if the employer also
1-18     employs a person who the employer knows is:
1-19                 (1)  a releasee under the supervision of the pardons
1-20     and paroles division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;
1-21     or
1-22                 (2)  under community supervision for an offense under
1-23     Title 5, Penal Code.
1-24           (b)  Notice required by this section must be in writing and
 2-1     delivered personally to the parent or legal guardian or, if
 2-2     personal delivery is not possible, by certified mail.
 2-3           Sec. 53.003.  CAUSE OF ACTION FOR FAILURE TO NOTIFY.
 2-4     (a)  Failure by an employer to notify a person entitled to notice
 2-5     under  this chapter may be made the basis for a statutory cause of
 2-6     action under this chapter on proof that:
 2-7                 (1)  the person is the parent or legal guardian of an
 2-8     employee who suffered an injury or damages resulting from an action
 2-9     by a person described by Section 53.002(a)(1) or (2); and
2-10                 (2)  the employer's failure to provide the notice was a
2-11     proximate cause of the injury or damages.
2-12           (b)  This section does not affect the right of any person to
2-13     bring a common law cause of action against another person whose
2-14     conduct resulted in personal injury or damages to the person
2-15     bringing the action.
2-16           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-17           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.