§ 84.005.Employee Liability

The employee cap, and it is a limitation rather than an immunity.

In a civil action against an employee of a nonhospital charitable organization for damages based on an act or omission in the course and scope of employment, the employee's liability is limited to $500,000 for each person and $1,000,000 for each single occurrence of bodily injury or death, and $100,000 for property damage.

Employees are treated differently from volunteers, who are immune outright. The distinction is deliberate: an employee is paid for the work, and the findings section identified the deterrent effect on volunteers as the problem.

"Nonhospital" excludes hospital employees, whose organizations are covered by the separate hospital provision.

Two conditions in the applicability section govern this cap. It does not apply to intentional, wilfully negligent, or consciously indifferent conduct. And it applies only if the organization carries liability insurance covering its employees and volunteers in at least the capped amounts.

The insurance condition is the same bargain the recreational use and medical liability caps use: a limitation given in exchange for guaranteed collectibility.

The applicability section also excludes health care providers as the medical liability chapter defines them from this cap and the organization cap — unless the provider is a federally funded migrant or community health center, a nonprofit HMO created by a community center, or usually provides discounted services at or below cost.