Articles About Tennessee Labor And Employment Law

Executive summary: On March 23, 2015, members in both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to pass new employment protections for handgun owners. The bill creates a private right of action for any employee who is terminated solely for storing a firearm or ammunition in the employee’s vehicle while parked in the employer’s parking lot. This legislation, which now awaits the Governor’s signature, represents yet another outgrowth of the controversial “Guns in Trunks” legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2013.

While more than two dozen states have introduced workplace anti-bullying bills, Tennessee is the first state to enact workplace anti-bullying law.

A university’s former maintenance employee presented material evidence for a jury to infer that his supervisor knew he had filed a lawsuit for employment discrimination when she engaged in retaliatory conduct, a unanimous Tennessee Supreme Court has held, reinstating a jury verdict for the employee. Ferguson v. Middle Tennessee State University, No. M2012-00890-SC-R11-CV (Oct. 29, 2014). The Court also remanded the case to the Court of Appeals for a review of the university’s argument that the $3 million compensatory damages award to the employee was excessive, given that the lower court did not review the issue of damages.

Executive Summary: Accessing information about employees and applicants via their social media accounts just got a bit more complicated in Tennessee. This past legislative session, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the “Employee Online Privacy Act of 2014” aimed at protecting employees and applicants from being forced by an employer to turn over access to their social media accounts. The Act makes Tennessee part of a growing number of states enacting similar legislation. Although the Act, which takes effect January 1, 2015, can be seen as a win for employee privacy, it is not an absolute bar to employers using social media as a tool to monitor their employees’ and applicants’ actions. The law still leaves several permissible purposes for which employers may utilize social media in the employment context.

Rejecting a former employee’s assertion that the “excessive” and “prohibitive” costs of arbitration made his employment agreement’s arbitration clause unconscionable, the Tennessee Court of Appeals at Knoxville has affirmed an order directing arbitration in a wrongful termination action brought under the Tennessee Public Protection Act and the Tennessee Human Rights Act. Trigg v. Little Six Corp., No. E2013-01929-COA-R9-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 28, 2014).

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has signed into law a bill removing individual liability for employment discrimination under the Tennessee Human Rights Act from supervisors or employer agents, and capping discriminatees’ “non-pecuniary” damages, among other things. The new law will apply to all causes of action accruing on or after July 1, 2014.

Executive Summary: Tennessee has drastically changed the legal landscape of employment discrimination litigation under state law. For claims arising after July 1, 2014, plaintiffs will no longer have the ability to seek unlimited compensatory damages in discrimination lawsuits; the common law claim of retaliatory discharge has been eliminated; and restrictions have been adopted on whistleblower claims. In addition, no longer will a supervisor or agent of the employer be subject to individual liability. These changes were designed to make the state employment discrimination laws mirror the federal discrimination laws.

Tennessee has joined the growing number of states that prohibits employers, including government entities, from requesting or requiring access to the private social networking or online accounts of employees and job applicants. The Employee Online Privacy Act of 2014, signed by Governor Bill Haslam on April 29, 2014, will take effect January 1, 2015, but the new law will not apply to a contract entered into prior to that date that permits an employer action prohibited by the Act unless or until the contract is renewed on or after that date.

Legislation to restrict employers’ access to applicants’ and employees’ personal online content continues its rapid expansion in 2014.1 Three weeks after Wisconsin became the 13th state to adopt its own social media password protection law, on April 29, 2014, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed his own state’s password protection law. This new law goes into effect on January 1, 2015.

Business-friendly Tennessee, known for its low business taxes and minimal red tape, is on track to be even friendlier if Governor Bill Haslam signs a bill removing liability for employment discrimination from individual supervisors or agents under the Tennessee Human Rights Act and limiting discriminatees’ “non-pecuniary” damages, among other things. Once signed, the new law will become effective July 1, 2014.

The Tennessee Wage Regulation Act provides no private right of action to aggrieved employees, a federal district court in Nashville has ruled in a collective action for alleged unpaid wages. Abadeer v. Tyson Foods, Inc., No. 3:09-cv-00125 (M.D. Tenn. Oct. 3, 2013). However, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee also ruled the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and breached its employment agreement with the employees by failing to pay them for all hours worked, including pre- and post-shift activities. But the court denied summary judgment to the employees on their claim for uncompensated meal periods.

In an action for negligent infliction of emotional distress and retaliatory discharge under Tennessee law, an employee is not required to offer expert testimony to prove the negligent infliction claim because it was “parasitic” to her retaliatory discharge claim, rather than a “stand-alone” claim, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee has ruled.

Executive summary: On February 5, 2014, members of the Tennessee Senate voted down an amendment that would have created a specific employment protection for gun owners. The amendment sought to add a provision to the controversial “guns in trunks” law passed last year by the General Assembly, which would have prohibited Tennessee employers from terminating gun owners based on their exercise of the rights protected by the guns in trunks law.

A licensed time-share salesperson was not entitled to unemployment benefits following the termination of her service agreement with a time-share company because she was a “licensed real estate agent” excluded from the Tennessee Employment Security Law, the Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled. Westgate Smoky Mountains at Gatlinburg v. Phillips, et al., No. E2011-02538-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. Dec. 23, 2013). Declining to impose unemployment tax liability on the time-share company, the Court reinstated the judgment in favor of the company.

An employee “whistleblower” suing for retaliatory discharge under Tennessee law must have reported the alleged misconduct to someone other than the person engaging in the alleged misconduct, the Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled. Haynes v. Formac Stables, Inc., No. W2013-00535-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 4, 2013). Where the plaintiff-employee’s complaint was to the owner of the company, who was a participant in the allegedly illegal activity, the Court found the employee failed to establish a claim and affirmed dismissal. Further, the intermediate appellate court declined to recognize an exception to the reporting requirement where the person engaged in the misconduct is the owner or manager of the employer.