87R17549 JSC-D
 
  By: Turner of Tarrant H.B. No. 4182
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the employment status of certain remote service
  workers.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subtitle E, Title 2, Labor Code, is amended by
  adding Chapter 94 to read as follows:
  CHAPTER 94.  REMOTE SERVICE CONTRACTORS
  SUBCHAPTER A.  GENERAL PROVISIONS
         Sec. 94.0001.  SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the
  Remote Service Marketplace Platforms Act.
         Sec. 94.0002.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
               (1)  "Digital application" means an Internet-connected
  software application that a person uses to obtain or provide a
  remote service.
               (2)  "Marketplace company" means a person that:
                     (A)  offers a digital application to the public;
  and
                     (B)  accepts requests for remote services
  exclusively through the person's digital application.
               (3)  "Remote service" means a service designed to
  assist others that a person performs remotely through a digital
  application. The term includes tutoring, closed captioning, open
  captioning, subtitling, transcribing, translating, interpreting,
  and conducting a language assessment remotely through a digital
  application.
               (4)  "Remote service contractor" means a person who
  uses a marketplace company's digital application to provide a
  remote service to another person.
         Sec. 94.0003.  NONAPPLICABILITY. This chapter does not
  apply to services performed by an individual in the employ of:
               (1)  a state, a political subdivision of a state, or an
  Indian tribe or an instrumentality of a state, political
  subdivision of a state, or Indian tribe that is wholly owned by one
  or more states, political subdivisions, or Indian tribes, provided
  that the services are excluded from employment as defined in the
  Federal Unemployment Tax Act (26 U.S.C. Section 3301 et seq.)
  solely because of Section 3306(c)(7) of that Act; or
               (2)  a religious, charitable, educational, or other
  organization, provided that the services are excluded from
  employment as defined in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (26
  U.S.C. Section 3301 et seq.) solely because of Section 3306(c)(8)
  of that Act.
  SUBCHAPTER B.  EMPLOYMENT STATUS
         Sec. 94.0101.  CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH REMOTE SERVICE
  CONTRACTOR IS NOT EMPLOYEE. (a)  A remote service contractor is not
  an employee of a marketplace company if, under the agreement
  between the remote service contractor and the marketplace company
  and in fact:
               (1)  all or substantially all of the work the remote
  service contractor performs under the agreement:
                     (A)  is on a per-job or per-transaction basis; and
                     (B)  is compensated on an hourly, per-job, or
  per-transaction basis;
               (2)  the marketplace company does not:
                     (A)  prescribe specific hours during which the
  remote service contractor must be available to accept a request for
  remote service;
                     (B)  prescribe a specific location at which the
  remote service contractor must be available to perform a remote
  service; or
                     (C)  restrict the remote service contractor from
  engaging in another occupation or business; and
               (3)  except for the use of the marketplace company's
  digital application, the remote service contractor is responsible
  for providing the necessary tools, materials, and equipment to
  perform a remote service requested by a person through the
  marketplace company's digital application.
         (b)  A marketplace company's act of screening or training a
  remote service contractor does not affect the remote service
  contractor's employment status under this chapter.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.