New Requirement for Texas Employers: Notice for Reporting Workplace Violence or Suspicious ‎Activity

On June 14, 2023, the Texas legislature added Chapter 104A, “Reporting Workplace Violence” law to the Texas Labor Code, which created a new worksite notice requirement for Texas employers. The law, which became effective on September 1, 2023, requires all Texas employers, regardless of the number of employees, to post a notice relating to reporting to the Department of Public Safety workplace violence or suspicious activity.

In December 2023, the Texas Workforce Commission (“TWC”) issued a form of the required notice (linked here), which is required to be posted:

• in a conspicuous place in the employer’s place of business;
• in locations sufficiently convenient to all employees; and
• in English and Spanish, as appropriate.

This posting requirement joins another new workplace violence prevention law, applicable specifically to healthcare facilities in Texas, requiring those facilities to adopt workplace violence prevention policies and plans on or before September 1, 2024.

Now that the TWC has issued a form of the Reporting Workplace Violence poster, employers’ compliance as prescribed by the statute is now mandatory. In addition to physical posting, employers with remote or hybrid workers should also make the notice electronically available, such as by including the poster in a digital version of the employee handbook, or posting it via the intranet or on an internal virtual bulletin board, to ensure that the poster is sufficiently convenient and available to such employees. Given the Texas legislature’s growing focus on preventing workplace violence, employers should consider reviewing and updating existing workplace violence related policies and procedures to provide additional guidance to employees on how to appropriately respond to incidents of violence at their specific worksites.