{"id":"DUT-TX-013","kind":"duty","level":"state","jurisdiction":"Texas","state":"TX","metro":"","industry":"","agency":"","eco":"","issuer":"Texas Legislature (Labor Code ch. 411, Workers\u0027 Health and Safety, Subchapter H, General Requirements Relating to Occupational Health and Safety)","authority":"Tex. Labor Code § 411.103","instrument":"Tex. Labor Code § 411.103","title":"Duty of Employer to Provide Safe Workplace","dateIssued":"1995-09-01","effective":"standing","end":"standing","startDate":"1995-09-01","endDate":"2021-09-30","quarters":["2020Q2","2020Q3","2020Q4","2021Q1","2021Q2","2021Q3"],"types":["DUTY","EMP"],"addressees":["employers (every employer of an \u0027employee,\u0027 defined in § 411.102(2) as an individual who works for an employer for compensation, other than domestic service in a private residence)"],"clause":"Each employer shall: (1) provide and maintain... a place of employment that is reasonably safe and healthful for employees; (2) install, maintain, and use... methods of sanitation and hygiene, that are reasonably necessary to protect the life, health, and safety of the employer\u0027s employees; and (3) take all other actions reasonably necessary to make the employment and place of employment safe.","enforcement":"None stated in the subchapter; § 411.109 provides that this subchapter and Health and Safety Code chs. 341 and 755 \u0027to the extent possible shall all be given effect\u0027; the identical federal duty, 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1) (Ex. DUT-AL-009), carries the civil penalties of 29 U.S.C. § 666 and was enforced through OSHA\u0027s COVID-19 National Emphasis Program and response plan (Exs. FED-082 to FED-084); § 411.081 requires every employer to post the division\u0027s hotline for \u0027reports of violations of occupational health or safety law\u0027","functions":[],"notes":"Every Texas employer was under a standing mandatory duty to keep the place of employment \u0027reasonably safe and healthful,\u0027 to use \u0027methods of sanitation and hygiene\u0027 reasonably necessary to protect employees\u0027 health, and to \u0027take all other actions reasonably necessary\u0027 to make the workplace safe; the content of that duty during an airborne pandemic was supplied by DSHS\u0027s minimum standard health protocols, the CDC guidelines and OSHA\u0027s guidance, so that distancing, screening, sanitation, ventilation and exposure controls were the statute\u0027s requirement, not the employer\u0027s choice.","sourceUrl":"https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.411.htm","snapshot":"http://web.archive.org/web/20201018051942/https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LA/htm/LA.411.htm","fileExists":true,"fileBytes":131979,"grade":"primary","character":"workplace_duty","description":"","collection":"DUT-TX","url":"/library/DUT-TX-013","exhibitUrl":"/exhibit/DUT-TX-013","citation":"Texas Legislature (Labor Code ch. 411, Workers\u0027 Health and Safety, Subchapter H, General Requirements Relating to Occupational Health and Safety), Tex. Labor Code § 411.103 (standing) (Ex. DUT-TX-013)","stateName":"Texas","related":["AGY-ST-HEALTH-BOARDS-046","TX-054","TX-055","DUT-AL-009","FED-082","FED-084","DUT-TX-020"]}