So I had an argument the other day online with a Texan bragging that Texas is doing something right because a lot of businesses and people are moving to this state. I disagreed and here was my argument. Yes. Texas is appealing to Big Business (and small businesses too) because Rick Perry has weakened Employee Protections and Consumer Protections to appeal to Big Business. Texas is a right to work state as is many other states, but Texas in my opinion, is a "Right to Work" state on STEROIDS. Employees are not just randomly fired, they are callously fired. Meaning that they are so expendable, as my Human Resources Director told me, if the company didn't like their shoes they could be dismissed; and the employer does not have to give a "reason" behind the termination. One would have to sue a company to obtain that.
There is another very small and seemingly trivial thing Texas legislators have done as well which is when an employee leaves a company the employer can't give out disparaging information that can't be proven "TRUE" or even if it can be proven "TRUE" may be able to be "contested" such as a messy termination. Well, Texas has usurped that because in the state of Texas they have wrote into law that businesses can give a personal reference "so long as they have a reasonable ASSUMPTION that it is true". So basically the state of Texas is allowing businesses and their Human Resources and Managers to place an employees job in Jeopardy by allowing them to "make assumptions" with potential employers. <By the way, companies can STILL Be sued in court for giving defamatory information to a potential employer; the state of Texas has just opened up that door to more litigation>.
The state of Texas has also taken its private owned hospitals and thrown an umbrella over them. So if a hospital takes out the wrong organ for instance or cuts off the wrong leg, or arm, or commits some act of life changing negligence that leaves a person permanently impaired or even worse DEAD, the family will have a difficult time seeking recourse through the court system. Governor Rick Perry has even recently "bragged" about his states "infiltration" (his words not mine) of the Court System in Texas. The republicans have created laws that directly conflict with basic civil and criminal protections. There are so many of them that one would have to sue the rest of their life for the violations Texas is committing against its own citizens.
There are many consumer laws that Texas has weakened.
For instance, if you rent an apartment in Texas there are limits on late fees. The reason this was put in place was because a lot of apartment communities in Texas were charging exorbitant late fees on late rent, sometimes which even equaled or exceeded the rent! This was a pure bonanza to them. So because of a public outcry, Texas placed a "limit" on the late fees and stated that they can not be so much as to impose a penalty. However, Texas did not place a figure on the late fees, thus leaving it up to a judge to decide what is "reasonable". The way the state explained it was that if an apartment community has to send out certified mail, or take other costly measures against a person who is late, or loses money somehow, they are entitled to be recouped for that. However, in very poor parts of Texas, in very poor communities, apartments that are charging $350 to $400 per month (let's say for an Efficiency apartment) are charging hundreds of dollars in late fees for a tenant being only a few days late when the only measure they are doing to collect is sending over apartment personnel to tape a letter on the person's door and many times the apartment is only a few steps away from the office.
As these late fees roll over from month to month, people end up leaving apartments owing THOUSANDS which is then placed on their credit. They can't access an attorney as the attorneys all cost so much, and yes they can access legal aid, but they are too swamped. And no one can describe what is "reasonable" by the way.
So the person is basically forced to bring unnecessary litigation against a business to even find out what is considered "reasonable" as the business would have to give an account for what expenses they incurred to justify such costs. Per a legal concept under the "Due Process" Law, there is something called "Vague Laws" which says if a law is written so that the average person can not understand it and would have to bring litigation to get the law "explained" then it is therefore considered a "Vague Law" and Unconstitutional. There are many laws like this in Texas, intentionally written vague, probably at the prodding of some business lobbyist group, to allow businesses the ability to still exploit the poor and vulnerable.
Businesses don't like any regulations, whether they be protections for vulnerable workers or minority groups or whatever. And Texas has given them what they want, but has opened up the flood gates to all sorts of abuse.
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