HBA-RAR H.B. 341 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 341
By: McCall
Business & Industry
2/10/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, an employer can be found liable for disclosing or
withholding certain information about current or former employees.  H.B.
341 provides immunity from civil liability to an employer who discloses
certain information about current or former employees if the employer did
not know the information to be false at the time of disclosure. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Title 3, Labor Code, by adding Chapter 103, as follows:

CHAPTER 103.  DISCLOSURE BY EMPLOYER OF INFORMATION REGARDING CERTAIN
EMPLOYEES OR FORMER EMPLOYEES 

Sec. 103.001.  DEFINITIONS.  Defines "employee," "employer," "job
performance," "prospective  employee," and  "prospective employer."  

Sec. 103.002.  AUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE.  Authorizes an employer to disclose
information about a current or former employee's job performance to a
prospective employer of the current or former employee on the request of
the prospective employer or the employee. 

Sec. 103.003.  INFORMATION PROVIDED TO APPLICANT FOR EMPLOYMENT. Requires a
prospective employer to provide to any applicant, no later than the 30th
day after receipt of written  request by the applicant,  copies of all
written communications from current and former employers of the applicant
that may be reasonably believed to affect the applicant's possibility of
employment with the prospective employer.  Requires  an applicant for
employment to make such request no later than the 30th day after the date
on which the applicant completes the application process required by the
prospective employer. 

Sec. 103.004.  IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL LIABILITY; EMPLOYER REPRESENTATIVES.
Provides that an employer who discloses information about a current or
former employee under Section 103.002  is immune from civil liability for
that disclosure or any damages proximately caused by that disclosure unless
it is proven by the preponderance of the evidence that the information
disclosed  was known by that employer to be false at the time the
disclosure was made.  Provides that this chapter applies to a managerial
employee or other representative of the employer, who is authorized to
provide and who provides information, in the same manner that it applies to
an employer. 

Sec. 103.005.  EMPLOYMENT REFERENCE.  Provides that this chapter does not
require an employer to provide an employment reference to or about a
current or former employee. 


 SECTION 2.  Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 4.  Emergency clause.