HBA-DMH H.B. 3342 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3342 By: Moreno, Joe E. Business & Industry 4/6/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, the rights of temporary workers are not clearly defined. Also, there are few requirements for temporary employment services to meet concerning temporary workers. House Bill 3342 requires temporary employment services to post notices containing all relevant job information and prohibits the company from supplying temporary employees to a client company involved in a labor dispute. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 3342 amends the Labor Code relating to the rights of individuals employed by temporary employment companies. The bill requires a temporary employment company to post a notice listing all client companies at which work is available through the temporary employment company and all relevant information for the temporary job. The bill requires such notices to be written in English and any other language or languages that are generally used in the locale or locales of the temporary employment service or its clients. The bill requires copies of all notices to be kept on file for a period of one year by the temporary services companies and requires the notices to be made available, without charge, for inspection by any affected temporary employee. (Sec. 1.02). The bill provides that an individual who is a temporary employee for a temporary help firm is deemed to have voluntarily quit employment without good cause and thus be disqualified for unemployment compensation benefits if the temporary employee did not contact the temporary help firm for reassignment upon completion of an assignment. The bill provides that if a temporary employee completes an assignment and has indicated his or her availability to accept a new assignment, but is not offered another substantially equivalent assignment, the employee is eligible for unemployment compensation benefits after a specified time period (Sec. 1.08). The bill prohibits a temporary employment service from: _procuring workers to replace employees who are not working due to a labor dispute; _sending or referring workers to any work site where a labor dispute is in progress; _sending or referring workers to a client company involved in a labor dispute, for work that would normally be performed by the client company's employees; or _sending or referring workers to a client company for work that the client company is performing because of the existence of a labor dispute (Sec. 1.10). The bill requires a temporary employment service to compensate temporary employees with benefits and compensation equal to those received by employees performing substantially equivalent work employed by the client company if the temporary employee has been working for the client company for a total of 90 days. The bill requires a temporary employment service to adhere to federal or state minimum wage requirements, to furnish each worker with detailed wage deduction information, and to provide each worker with an annual earnings summary (Sec. 1.03). The bill prohibits a temporary employment service from charging a temporary employee for items required by the nature of the work. The bill prohibits a temporary employment services from charging an employee to cash the employee's check (Sec.1.04). The bill sets forth requirements for a temporary employment service to ensure the protection of its employees, including requirements for vehicle insurance, workers' compensation insurance, and false, misleading, or deceptive advertising or information (Sec. 1.05). The bill provides that there is a levied tax at the rate equal to the rate of tax on the sale of tangible personal property at retail by the provisions of the gross receipts or gross proceeds of each sale at retail of services rendered by persons operating a temporary employee services firm which assigns its employees to perform services to others with the understanding that the temporary employee's services will be terminated at completions of the assigned tasks or functions or time period (Sec. 1.09). The bill establishes enforcement provisions for violations of these provisions (Sec. 1.06). The bill prohibits a temporary employment service form discharging or discriminating against an employee who files a complaint (Sec. 1.05). EFFECTIVE DATE 91st day after adjournment.