81R14025 KCR-D

By: Burnam, Lucio III, Naishtat, Farrar, et al. H.B. No. 978

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the employment rights of certain individuals with disabilities.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 21.002, Labor Code, is amended by amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivisions (2), (11-a), and (12-a) to read as follows:

(1) "Auxiliary aids and services" includes:

(A) qualified interpreters or other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments;

(B) qualified readers, taped texts, or other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments;

(C) acquisition or modification of equipment or devices; and

(D) services and actions similar to those described by Paragraphs (A)-(C).

(2) "Bona fide occupational qualification" means a qualification:

(A) reasonably related to the satisfactory performance of the duties of a job; and

(B) for which a factual basis exists for the belief that no person of an excluded group would be able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the job with safety or efficiency.

(11-a) "Major life activity" includes, but is not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working. The term also includes the operation of a major bodily function, including, but not limited to, functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, and digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions.

(12-a) "Regarded as having such an impairment" means subjected to an action prohibited under Subchapter B or C because of an actual or perceived physical or mental impairment, other than an impairment that is minor and is expected to last or actually lasts less than six months, regardless of whether the impairment limits or is perceived to limit a major life activity.

SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 21, Labor Code, is amended by adding Section 21.0021 to read as follows:

Sec. 21.0021. CONSTRUCTION OF CERTAIN DEFINITIONS. (a) The term "disability":

(1) shall be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals under Subchapters B and C, to the maximum extent allowed under those subchapters; and

(2) includes an impairment that is episodic or in remission that substantially limits a major life activity when active.

(b) The determination of whether an impairment substantially limits a major life activity must be made without regard to the ameliorative effects of mitigating measures, including:

(1) medication, medical supplies, medical equipment, medical appliances, prosthetic limbs and devices, hearing aids, cochlear implants and other implantable hearing devices, mobility devices, and oxygen therapy equipment;

(2) devices that magnify, enhance, or otherwise augment a visual image, other than eyeglasses and contact lenses that are intended to fully correct visual acuity or eliminate refractive error;

(3) the use of assistive technology;

(4) reasonable accommodations and auxiliary aids or services; and

(5) learned behavioral or adaptive neurological modifications.

SECTION 3. Section 21.005, Labor Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 21.005. CONSTRUCTION WITH [EFFECT ON] OTHER [STATE OR FEDERAL] LAWS. (a) This chapter does not relieve a government agency or official of the responsibility to ensure nondiscrimination in employment as required under another provision of the state or federal constitutions or laws.

(b) This chapter does not affect the standards for determining eligibility for benefits under Title 5 or under a state or federal disability benefit program.

(c) Nothing in this chapter may be construed as the basis for a claim by an individual without a disability that the individual was subject to discrimination because of the individual's lack of a disability.

SECTION 4. Section 21.115, Labor Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 21.115. BUSINESS NECESSITY. (a) Subject to Subsection (b), an [An] employer does not commit an unlawful employment practice by engaging in a practice that has a discriminatory effect and that would otherwise be prohibited by this chapter if the employer establishes that the practice:

(1) is not intentionally devised or operated to contravene the prohibitions of this chapter; and

(2) is justified by business necessity.

(b) An employer may not use a qualification standard, employment test, or other selection criterion based on an individual's uncorrected vision unless the standard, test, or criterion is consistent with business necessity and job-related for the position to which the standard, test, or criterion applies.

SECTION 5. Section 21.128, Labor Code, is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:

(d) A respondent is not obligated to make a reasonable workplace accommodation to a known physical or mental limitation of an otherwise qualified individual under Subsection (a) if the individual's disability is based solely on being regarded as having an impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity.

SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a claim of discrimination based on conduct that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. A claim of discrimination that is based on conduct that occurs before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the conduct occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.