Bill Text: TX HB1527 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to an employee's liability for sexual harassment.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-18 - Left pending in committee [HB1527 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB1527-Introduced.html
86R7646 LED-D | ||
By: Neave | H.B. No. 1527 |
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relating to an employee's liability for sexual harassment. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 21.002(13), Labor Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(13) "Respondent" means the person charged in a | ||
complaint filed under this chapter and may include an employer, | ||
employee, employment agency, labor organization, or joint | ||
labor-management committee that controls an apprenticeship or | ||
other training or retraining program, including an on-the-job | ||
training program. | ||
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Labor Code, is amended | ||
by adding Section 21.062 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 21.062. DISCRIMINATION BY EMPLOYEE. (a) In this | ||
section, "sexual harassment" means an unwelcome sexual advance, a | ||
request for a sexual favor, or any other verbal or physical conduct | ||
of a sexual nature if: | ||
(1) submission to the advance, request, or conduct is | ||
made a term or condition of an individual's employment, either | ||
explicitly or implicitly; | ||
(2) submission to or rejection of the advance, | ||
request, or conduct by an individual is used as the basis for a | ||
decision affecting the individual's employment; | ||
(3) the advance, request, or conduct has the purpose | ||
or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work | ||
performance; or | ||
(4) the advance, request, or conduct has the purpose | ||
or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive | ||
working environment. | ||
(b) An employee commits an unlawful employment practice if | ||
the employee engages in sexual harassment of another employee. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 21.2585, Labor Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (f) to read as | ||
follows: | ||
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (f), the [ |
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the amount of compensatory damages awarded under this section for | ||
future pecuniary losses, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, | ||
mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other nonpecuniary | ||
losses and the amount of punitive damages awarded under this | ||
section may not exceed, for each complainant: | ||
(1) $50,000 in the case of a respondent that has fewer | ||
than 101 employees; | ||
(2) $100,000 in the case of a respondent that has more | ||
than 100 and fewer than 201 employees; | ||
(3) $200,000 in the case of a respondent that has more | ||
than 200 and fewer than 501 employees; and | ||
(4) $300,000 in the case of a respondent that has more | ||
than 500 employees. | ||
(f) Subsection (d) does not apply to damages awarded against | ||
an employee. | ||
SECTION 4. The change in law made 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 accrued before the effective date | ||
of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the cause of action | ||
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is | ||
continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |