83R3277 MAW-F
By: Perry H.B. No. 1121
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to limiting the liability of persons who employ certain
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,
issued by a licensing authority to which this chapter applies.
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 license holder 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 an 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
an existing cause of action.
SECTION 2. Subchapter E, Chapter 53, 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, 2013.