public list of employers fined for not paying wages

The text as introduced · 753 words

89R1005 RDS-D

By: González of El Paso
H.B. No. 669

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a database of employers penalized for failure to pay

wages or convicted of certain criminal offenses involving wage

theft.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is

amended by adding Section 301.0705 to read as follows:

Sec. 301.0705. DATABASE REGARDING WAGE THEFT. (a) In this

section:

(1) "Attorney representing the state" means a district

attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney

performing the duties of a district attorney.

(2) "Employee" and "employer" have the meanings

assigned by Section 61.001.

(b) The commission shall make available on its Internet

website a publicly accessible list of all employers in this state

that have been:

(1) assessed an administrative penalty under Section

61.053;

(2) ordered to pay wages by a final order of the

commission and have failed to comply with Section 61.063; or

(3) convicted of an offense under:

(A) Section 61.019; or

(B) Section 31.04, Penal Code, if the offense

involved the theft of a service that was rendered by an employee of

the employer.

(c) For an employer that is a business entity, the database

must include the name under which the entity operates and the name

of each individual who is an owner of the entity and actively

involved in the management of the entity.

(d) The commission must provide notice to an employer not

later than the 180th day before the date the employer is listed in

the database.

(e) The commission by rule shall establish a process by

which an employer may, at any time after receiving notice under

Subsection (d), dispute the employer's initial inclusion or

continued inclusion in the database, as applicable. The process

must require the commission to investigate and make a final

determination regarding an employer dispute under this subsection

not later than the 21st day after the date the dispute is filed.

(f) In a dispute regarding an employer's continued

inclusion in the database under Subsection (e), the commission

shall consider any material changes to the employer's management or

ownership following the incident for which the employer was

initially included in the database.

(g) The commission shall list an employer in the database

until the third anniversary of the date the penalty is assessed or

the employer is convicted, unless the employer is removed from the

database as a result of the commission's determination following a

dispute under Subsection (e).

(h) An attorney representing the state shall report to the

commission the name of each employer that is prosecuted and

convicted in the attorney's jurisdiction of an offense described by

Subsection (b)(3).

(i) For purposes of this section, a person has been

convicted of an offense if the person was adjudged guilty of the

offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for

a grant of deferred adjudication community supervision, regardless

of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed or whether

the sentence was probated and the person was subsequently

discharged from community supervision.

(j) This section does not impose any additional requirement

on a contractor performing work under a contract that is subject to:

(1) Chapter 2258, Government Code; or

(2) the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. Section 3141 et

seq.) or another federal law that makes the Davis-Bacon Act

applicable to the contract.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only

to an employer:

(1) for whom an administrative penalty is assessed on

or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the

conduct giving rise to the penalty occurred before, on, or after

that date;

(2) who is subject to a final order of the Texas

Workforce Commission entered on or after the effective date of this

Act, regardless of whether the conduct giving rise to the order

occurred before, on, or after that date; or

(3) for whom a judgment of conviction is entered, or

who is placed on deferred adjudication community supervision, on or

after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the

offense for which the employer was convicted, or for which the

employer was placed on deferred adjudication community

supervision, was committed before, on, or after that date.

SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2025, the Texas

Workforce Commission shall establish the database required by

Section 301.0705, Labor Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.