Bill Text: TX SB1714 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to certain actions against an employer by an employee who is not covered by workers' compensation insurance.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/11 [SB1714 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-SB1714-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to certain actions against an employer by an employee who is not covered by workers' compensation insurance.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/11 [SB1714 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-SB1714-Comm_Sub.html
82R27505 RWG-F | ||
By: Duncan | S.B. No. 1714 | |
(Chisum) | ||
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1714: No. |
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relating to certain actions against an employer by an employee who | ||
is not covered by workers' compensation insurance. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Sections 406.033(a) and (d), Labor Code, are | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
(a) In an action against an employer by or on behalf of an | ||
employee who is not covered by [ |
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compensation insurance obtained in the manner authorized by Section | ||
406.003 [ |
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death sustained by an employee in the course and scope of the | ||
employment, it is not a defense that: | ||
(1) the employee was guilty of contributory | ||
negligence; | ||
(2) the employee assumed the risk of injury or death; | ||
or | ||
(3) the injury or death was caused by the negligence of | ||
a fellow employee. | ||
(d) In an action described by Subsection (a) [ |
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of an agent or servant of the employer acting within the general | ||
scope of the agent's or servant's employment. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 406.034(d), Labor Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(d) An employee who elects to retain the right of action or a | ||
legal beneficiary of that employee may bring a cause of action for | ||
damages for injuries sustained in the course and scope of the | ||
employment under common law or under a statute of this state. | ||
Notwithstanding Section 406.033, the cause of action is subject to | ||
all defenses available under common law and the statutes of this | ||
state unless the employee has waived coverage under an agreement | ||
with the employer. | ||
SECTION 3. (a) Sections 406.033 and 406.034, Labor Code, as | ||
amended by this Act, do not apply to a cause of action by an employee | ||
if: | ||
(1) the employee is subject to a valid and enforceable | ||
contract with the employee's employer relating to benefits for | ||
occupational injury or death; and | ||
(2) the employer, since January 1, 2011, has | ||
continuously: | ||
(A) had workers' compensation insurance | ||
coverage; and | ||
(B) offered its employees a program providing | ||
benefits for occupational injury or death that is not governed by | ||
Subtitle A, Title 5, Labor Code. | ||
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (a) of this section, | ||
Sections 406.033 and 406.034, Labor Code, as amended by this Act, | ||
apply only to a cause of action that accrues on or after the | ||
effective date of this Act. A cause of action that accrues before | ||
that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the action is | ||
filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |