§ 84.0066.Liability for Disclosing Sexual Misconduct

A provision removing the liability risk from warning another employer about a known abuser.

A charitable organization, or its employee, volunteer, or independent contractor, acting in good faith, is immune from civil liability for disclosing to an individual's current or prospective employer information reasonably believed to be true about an allegation that the individual engaged in sexual misconduct, sexually abused another individual, sexually harassed another individual, or committed an offense under listed Penal Code provisions — sex trafficking, continuous trafficking, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, or the sexual offenses and public indecency chapters.

The problem it addresses is well documented. An organization that discovers an abuser among its staff or volunteers has strong reason to warn the next employer and equally strong reason to fear a defamation claim for doing so. Silence is the safe course, and it lets the person move on.

Two conditions define the protection: good faith, and information reasonably believed to be true. It protects an honest warning, not a fabricated one.

Subsection (b) adds a reporting prerequisite. Where the allegation was one required to have been reported as abuse under the Family Code, the immunity applies only if the allegation has already been reported to the appropriate agency. An organization cannot warn a future employer while having failed to report to the authorities.

Subsection (c) excludes two cases: disclosing the individual's own conduct of the described kinds, and acting in bad faith or with a malicious purpose. Nobody buys immunity by confessing, and nobody is protected in using the section as a weapon.