By Brimer                                             H.B. No. 2842
         76R8325 T                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to workers' compensation, continued payment of salary by
 1-3     the employer as replacement for certain income benefits.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Amend Section 401.011, Labor Code, by adding the
 1-6     following new subsection (39) and renumbering the subsequent
 1-7     subsections:
 1-8           Sec. 401.011.  GENERAL DEFINITIONS.
 1-9                 (39)  Salary continuation means: An employer may
1-10     continue to pay the employee's salary as a replacement for
1-11     Temporary Income Benefits under the Labor Code; if an employer is
1-12     required to make salary continuation payments pursuant to a
1-13     contractual obligation, such as a collective bargaining agreement,
1-14     written agreement or policy, between the employer and employee, the
1-15     employer may elect to treat salary continuation payments as made
1-16     pursuant to such contractual obligation rather than pursuant to the
1-17     Act.  Salary continuation may include wage supplementation, where
1-18     no employer reimbursement is sought from the carrier as provided by
1-19     Section 408.127.
1-20           SECTION 2.  Amend Section 408.003, Labor Code, by adding new
1-21     subsections (f) and (g) as follows:
1-22           Sec. 408.003.  REIMBURSABLE EMPLOYER PAYMENTS; SALARY
1-23     CONTINUATION; OFFSET AGAINST INCOME BENEFITS; LIMITS.
1-24           (f)  Salary continuation payments made by the employer for
 2-1     disability resulting from a compensable injury shall be considered
 2-2     payment of income benefits for purposes of determining the accrual
 2-3     date of any subsequent income benefits under the Act.
 2-4           (g)  Payments made as salary continuation or supplementation
 2-5     do not affect the exclusive remedy provisions of Section 408.001 of
 2-6     the Act.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1999, however the
 2-8     provisions of this Act do not change the rights of parties in
 2-9     effect prior to the effective date of this Act.
2-10           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three consecutive
2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.