Stage 4 of 7 · Cited
Employee Caught Selling to Minor: What Is the Employer’s Liability?
In this guide
When an employee sells alcohol to a minor, the employer’s exposure runs on three tracks: the permit, the bond, and civil liability. The employee’s sale is charged against the permit unless the employer meets the Safe Harbor conditions of Section 106.14 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code. A conduct surety bond can be forfeited if the permit holder is finally found to have violated the Code. And Chapter 2 of the Code sets out when a seller can be sued for harm caused by the person it served. The criminal charge itself is against the employee, not the business.
Track 1: The permit
Under Section 106.14(a), “the actions of an employee shall not be attributable to the employer” for sales to minors, intoxicated persons, and non-members of a private club, but only if the employer requires employees to attend a TABC-approved seller training program, the employee actually attended, and the employer did not directly or indirectly encourage the violation. When those conditions are not met, the employee’s sale counts as the permit holder’s violation.
TABC’s Rule 34.20(b) makes one consequence explicit: a sale by an employee who does not hold a valid seller-server certificate does not satisfy the training condition and “is attributable to the employer.” Rule 34.20 also presumes indirect encouragement when the employer is missing any of its record-keeping standards or when incidents of the same type repeat, and it sets a deadline after the notice for the employer’s sworn affidavit. The protection therefore depends on records kept before the sale.
If the sale is attributed, the permit faces the sanctions for a sale to a minor under Section 106.13 and TABC’s public safety chart. Section 106.13(c) still gives the employer grounds for a lesser sanction: TABC may relax the sanction if the permit holder shows at a hearing that “an agent, servant, or employee of the permittee or licensee violated this code without the knowledge of the permittee or licensee,” that the violation could not reasonably have been prevented by due diligence, or that the permit holder was entrapped.
Track 2: The bond
Holders of wine and beer retailer’s, mixed beverage, and private club permits file a conduct surety bond under Section 11.11, unless an exemption applies. The bond must state that its amount will be paid to the state “if the permit is revoked or on final adjudication that the holder violated a provision of this code, regardless of whether the actions of an employee of a holder are not attributable to the holder under Section 106.14.” A settlement can also forfeit the bond: TABC’s settlement agreement form warns that a conduct surety bond may be forfeited.
Food and beverage certificate holders are not subject to the Section 11.11 bond requirement.
Track 3: Civil liability under Chapter 2
Chapter 2 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code governs a seller’s civil liability for providing alcohol. Three of its provisions matter when the person served is a minor:
| Provision | Who it covers | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Section 2.02(b) | any person served, of any age | selling or serving can be the basis of a suit if it was apparent to the provider that the person was obviously intoxicated to the extent of presenting a clear danger to themselves and others, and the intoxication was a proximate cause of the damages |
| Section 2.02(c) | a minor under 18 | an adult 21 or older, who is not the minor's parent, guardian, spouse, or court-appointed custodian, is liable for damages proximately caused by the minor's intoxication if the adult knowingly served or provided the alcohol, or knowingly allowed the minor to be served on premises the adult owns or leases |
| Section 2.03(c) | a person 18 or older, including minors aged 18 to 20 | Chapter 2 "provides the exclusive cause of action for providing an alcoholic beverage" to that person |
Under Section 2.03(a), a provider’s liability under Chapter 2 “for the actions of their employees, customers, members, or guests who are or become intoxicated is in lieu of” common law and other statutory duties. Section 106.14 states that it applies for purposes of “any other provision of this code” relating to these sales. How courts apply Safe Harbor in a civil suit is a matter of case law beyond the text of the statute.
The employee’s criminal case
The employee who sold can be charged under Section 106.03, a Class A misdemeanor. That case belongs to the employee. The employer is not the defendant, and the employee’s defense of a convincing government-issued ID is a separate rule from the employer’s Safe Harbor.
What the employer controls
The permit track turns on what the employer sets up in advance: the training requirement, current certificates, written policies that employees have read, the records that prove all three, and supervision that does not push staff to skip age checks. Those are the facts Section 106.14 and Rule 34.20 ask about after a sale.
This article is general information about Texas alcoholic beverage law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes and TABC rules change; confirm current requirements with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the relevant city or county, or a licensed Texas attorney before acting.