Sec. 158.209. EMPLOYER'S PENALTY FOR DISCRIMINATORY HIRING OR DISCHARGE. (a) An employer may not use an order or writ of withholding as grounds in whole or part for the termination of employment or for any other disciplinary action against an employee.
(b) An employer may not refuse to hire an employee because of an order or writ of withholding.
(c) If an employer intentionally discharges an employee in violation of this section, the employer continues to be liable to the employee for current wages and other benefits and for reasonable and necessary attorney's fees, court costs, and expenses incurred in enforcing the employee's rights as provided in this section. The court may order the fees, costs, expenses, and any postjudgment interest to be paid directly to the attorney, who may enforce the order in the attorney's own name by any means available for the enforcement of a judgment for debt.
(d) An action under this section may be brought by the employee, a friend of the court, the domestic relations office, or the Title IV-D agency.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 20, Sec. 1, eff. April 20, 1995. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 911, Sec. 48, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Amended by:
Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 593 (H.B. 2524), Sec. 42, eff. September 1, 2025.
Notes of Decisions
Austin v. Healthtrust, Inc.-The Hosp. Co., 967 S.W.2d 400 (Tex. 1998).
· cites it 2× “051 (prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, disability, religion, national origin, age, or sex); TEX. FAM.CODE § 158.209 (prohibiting discrimination based on withholding order for child support); TEX.”
Simmons Airlines v. Lagrotte, 50 S.W.3d 748 (Tex. App. 2001).
“051 (Vernon 1996) (prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, disability, religion, national origin, age, or sex); Tex Fam.Code Ann. § 158.209 (Vernon Supp.”
Safeshred, Inc. v. Martinez, 310 S.W.3d 649 (Tex. App. 2010).
· cites it 2× “001 ( West 2010 ) (holding employer criminally liable if he retaliates against employee for voting); Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 158.209 (West 2008) (prohibiting discrimination based on withholding order for child support); Tex.”
Denise Longoria v. CKR Prop. Mgmt., LLC (Tex. App. 2019).
“001 (performing jury service); Tex. Fam. Code § 158.209 (being subject to an order or writ of withholding from wages for child support).”
Safeshred, Inc. v. Louis Martinez, III (Tex. App. 2010).
“001 (West 2010) (holding employer criminally liable if he retaliates against employee for voting); Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 158.209 (West 2008) (prohibiting discrimination based on withholding order for child support); Tex.”
John Williams v. State (Tex. App. 2010).
“001 (West 2010) (holding employer criminally liable if he retaliates against employee for voting); Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 158.209 (West 2008) (prohibiting discrimination based on withholding order for child support); Tex.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.