| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to limiting the liability of persons who employ license |
|
|
holders with criminal convictions. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Chapter 53, Occupations Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Subchapter E to read as follows: |
|
|
SUBCHAPTER E. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR HIRING |
|
|
CERTAIN LICENSE HOLDERS |
|
|
Sec. 53.151. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: |
|
|
(1) "Employee" means a person other than an |
|
|
independent contractor who, for compensation, performs services |
|
|
for an employer under a written or oral contract for hire, whether |
|
|
express or implied. |
|
|
(2) "Independent contractor" has the meaning assigned |
|
|
by Section 91.001, Labor Code. |
|
|
(3) "License holder" means an employee or independent |
|
|
contractor who holds a license, including a provisional license. |
|
|
Sec. 53.152. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR HIRING LICENSE |
|
|
HOLDER CONVICTED OF OFFENSE. (a) A cause of action may not be |
|
|
brought against an employer, general contractor, premises owner, or |
|
|
other third party solely for hiring a person who holds a license |
|
|
issued by a licensing authority to which this chapter applies who |
|
|
has been convicted of an offense. |
|
|
(b) In a negligent hiring action against an employer, |
|
|
general contractor, premises owner, or other third party for the |
|
|
acts of a license holder that is based on a theory of liability |
|
|
other than that described by Subsection (a), the fact that the |
|
|
license holder was convicted of an offense before the license |
|
|
holder's employment or contractual obligation with the employer, |
|
|
general contractor, premises owner, or other third party, as |
|
|
applicable, may not be introduced into evidence. |
|
|
(c) This section does not preclude any existing cause of |
|
|
action for failure of an employer or other person to provide |
|
|
adequate supervision of a license holder, except that the fact that |
|
|
the license holder has been convicted of a criminal offense may be |
|
|
introduced into evidence in the suit only if: |
|
|
(1) the employer knew or should have known of the |
|
|
conviction; and |
|
|
(2) the conviction was directly related to the nature |
|
|
of the license holder's work and the conduct that gave rise to the |
|
|
alleged injury that is the basis of the suit. |
|
|
(d) The protections provided to an employer, general |
|
|
contractor, premises owner, or third party under this section do |
|
|
not apply in a suit concerning the misuse of funds or property of a |
|
|
person other than the employer, general contractor, premises owner, |
|
|
or third party by a license holder if, on the date the license |
|
|
holder was hired, the license holder had been convicted of a crime |
|
|
that includes fraud or the misuse of funds or property as an element |
|
|
of the offense, and it was foreseeable that the position for which |
|
|
the license holder was hired would involve discharging a fiduciary |
|
|
responsibility in the management of funds or property. |
|
|
(e) This section does not create a cause of action or expand |
|
|
any existing cause of action. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Subchapter E, Occupations Code, as added by this |
|
|
Act, applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after the |
|
|
effective date of this Act. A cause of action that accrues before |
|
|
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect |
|
|
immediately before that date, and the former law is continued in |
|
|
effect for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
|
|
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
|
|
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
|
|
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
|
|
Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |