Employers may not allow sexual harassment of unpaid interns and must take immediate, appropriate corrective action when they know or should know it is happening.
Sec. 21.1065. SEXUAL HARASSMENT PROTECTIONS FOR UNPAID INTERNS. (a) In this section, "sexual harassment" means an unwelcome sexual advance, a request for a sexual favor, or any other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature if: (1) submission to the advance, request, or conduct is made a term or condition of an individual's internship, either explicitly or implicitly; (2) submission to or rejection of the advance, request, or conduct by an individual is used as the basis for a decision affecting the individual's internship; (3) the advance, request, or conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance at the individual's internship; or (4) the advance, request, or conduct has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. (b) An employer commits an unlawful employment practice if sexual harassment of an unpaid intern occurs and the employer or the employer's agents or supervisors: (1) know or should have known that the conduct constituting sexual harassment was occurring; and (2) fail to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. (c) In this section, an individual is considered to be an unpaid intern of an employer if: (1) the individual's internship, even though it includes engagement in the employer's operations or the performance of productive work for the employer, is similar to training that would be given in an educational environment; (2) the individual's internship experience is for the individual's benefit; (3) the individual does not displace the employer's regular employees but works under close supervision of the employer's existing staff; (4) the employer does not derive any immediate advantage from the individual's internship activities and on occasion the employer's operations may be impeded by those activities; (5) the individual is not entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and (6) the individual is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship. Added by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1019 (H.B. 1151), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2015.