86R4785 SMT-D
 
  By: González of El Paso H.B. No. 572
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to eligibility for unemployment compensation for
  employees who leave the workplace due to sexual harassment.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 207.046(a), Labor Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  An individual is not disqualified for benefits under
  this subchapter if:
               (1)  the work-related reason for the individual's
  separation from employment was urgent, compelling, and necessary so
  as to make the separation involuntary;
               (2)  the individual leaves the workplace to protect the
  individual from family violence or stalking or the individual or a
  member of the individual's immediate family from violence related
  to a sexual assault as evidenced by:
                     (A)  an active or recently issued protective order
  documenting sexual assault of the individual or a member of the
  individual's immediate family or family violence against, or the
  stalking of, the individual or the potential for family violence
  against, or the stalking of, the individual;
                     (B)  a police record documenting sexual assault of
  the individual or a member of the individual's immediate family or
  family violence against, or the stalking of, the individual;
                     (C)  a physician's statement or other medical
  documentation that describes the sexual assault of the individual
  or a member of the individual's immediate family or family violence
  against the individual that:
                           (i)  is recorded in any form or medium that
  identifies the individual or member of the individual's immediate
  family, as applicable, as the patient; and
                           (ii)  relates to the history, diagnosis,
  treatment, or prognosis of the patient; or
                     (D)  written documentation from a family violence
  center or rape crisis center that describes the sexual assault of
  the individual or a member of the individual's immediate family or
  family violence against the individual; [or]
               (3)  the individual leaves the workplace to care for
  the individual's terminally ill spouse as evidenced by a
  physician's statement or other medical documentation, but only if
  no reasonable, alternative care was available; or
               (4)  the individual leaves the workplace because of
  sexual harassment, but only if the individual:
                     (A)  reported the sexual harassment to:
                           (i)  the individual's employer; or
                           (ii)  a law enforcement agency; or
                     (B)  filed a sexual harassment complaint with the
  commission under Chapter 21 or with the federal Equal Employment
  Opportunity Commission.
         SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to a claim for unemployment compensation benefits filed with the
  Texas Workforce Commission on or after the effective date of this
  Act. A claim filed before the effective date of this Act is
  governed by the law in effect on the date the claim was filed, and
  the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.