83R11657 MAW-D
By: Collier H.B. No. 3817
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to retaliation as an unlawful employment practice.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 21, Labor Code, is amended
by adding Section 21.1251 to read as follows:
Sec. 21.1251. CLARIFYING PROHIBITION AGAINST IMPERMISSIBLE
CONSIDERATION OF RETALIATION IN EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES. (a) Except
as otherwise provided by this chapter, an unlawful employment
practice is established when the complainant demonstrates that
retaliation as described by Section 21.055 was a motivating factor
for an employment practice, even if other factors also motivated
the practice.
(b) In a complaint in which a complainant proves a violation
under Subsection (a) and a respondent demonstrates that the
respondent would have taken the same action in the absence of the
impermissible motivating factor, the court may grant declaratory
relief, injunctive relief except as otherwise provided by this
subsection, and attorney's fees and costs demonstrated to be
directly attributable only to the pursuit of a complaint under
Subsection (a), but may not award damages or issue an order
requiring an admission, reinstatement, hiring, promotion, or back
pay.
SECTION 2. Section 21.1251, Labor Code, as added 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 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 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.