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.