January 2024 NCSEA CSQ

HB 458 addressed this issue by ensuring that the new hire reporting
requirements for Texas employers also applied to rideshare and similar
type delivery companies that employ large numbers of gig economy
workers. It did this by simply clarifying the definition of four statutory terms
that applied to the state’s new hire reporting program:
• “Earnings” was defined to include compensation from a
transportation network company and compensation from a person
that operates a technology platform used to make deliveries to
customers;
• “Employee” was defined to include a driver who logs in to the digital
network of a transportation network company, regardless of whether
the driver is considered an independent contractor, and an individual
who logs in to or otherwise uses a technology platform to make
deliveries for compensation;
• “Employer” was defined to include a transportation network
company and a person who operates a technology platform used to
make deliveries to customers; and
• “Newly Hired Employee” was defined to include individuals who
receive “earnings” from the employer and who might not strictly be
employed, hired, or rehired in the traditional sense.
Clarifying that rideshare and
similar type companies were
required under state law to
report their independent
contractor drivers to the OAG-
CSD’s State Directory of New
Hires would then help facilitate
the issuance of automated
income withholding orders
(IWOs) to the companies to
withhold any court-ordered
child support obligations from compensation paid to their drivers.
Upon enactment of the new law, but prior to its effective date of September
1, 2021, one major rideshare company, Lyft, immediately reached out to the
OAG-CSD to seek guidance to ensure that their company could be in