tn-employment

name: tn-employment description: > Subject-matter bundle for Tennessee employment matters — discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage-and-hour, whistleblower, non-compete, and workers'-compensation. Covers THRA (§ 4-21-101 et seq.; 8+ employee; 1-year judicial SOL); TDA (§ 8-50-103); TPPA whistleblower (§ 50-1-304) with strict "sole reason" element per Williams v. City of Burns; Wage Regulation Act (§ 50-2-101 et seq.; no state minimum — FLSA $7.25; treble damages on willful nonpayment); right-to-work (§ 50-1-201 et seq.; constitutionalized Nov. 2022); non-compete reasonableness per Murfreesboro Medical v. Udom; at-will employment (Stein v. Davidson Hotel); workers'-compensation exclusive remedy (§ 50-6-108) with post-7/1/14 Court of Workers' Compensation Claims forum split (§ 50-6-237). version: 0.1.1

Tennessee Employment Law

NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Tennessee employment claims are short-fused and forum-strategy-sensitive. The THRA 1-year judicial SOL is shorter than most peer states; the TPPA's "sole reason" element is unusually narrow; the workers'- compensation forum split between pre-7/1/14 Chancery jurisdiction and post-7/1/14 Court of Workers' Compensation Claims jurisdiction trips even experienced practitioners. Verify SOLs, employer-coverage thresholds, and forum selection against the current Tenn. Code Ann. before drafting, and consult a licensed Tennessee attorney about your specific case.

Use this subject-matter bundle for Tennessee employment civil actions — discrimination/harassment/retaliation, unpaid wages, whistleblower, non-compete enforcement, and tort-overlay claims against the workers'-compensation exclusive remedy.

At a glance

• At-will baseline: Tennessee is firmly an at-will state. Stein v. Davidson Hotel, 945 S.W.2d 714 (Tenn. 1997). Public-policy exception is narrow and largely codified in the TPPA.
• Right-to-work: Constitutionalized Nov. 2022 (Tenn. Const. art. XI § 21); previously statutory at Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-201 et seq. Compelled union-membership agreements are void.
• No state minimum wage: FLSA's $7.25/hr federal floor controls. Tennessee has no state overtime law; FLSA's 40-hour threshold applies.
• Enforcement agencies: Tennessee Human Rights Commission (THRC) for THRA; Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development (Wage Regulations Division) for wage claims; the Court of Workers' Compensation Claims (CWCC) for post- 7/1/14 workers'-comp matters under § 50-6-237; EEOC and DOL for the federal overlay.

SOL catalog (the most-used)

Current SOL day counts and any one-time tolling carve-outs should be verified against the current tn-statutes-debt/Tenn-Code-T28-Ch3.md and tn-statutes-debt/Tenn-Code-T4-Ch21.md corpus files (or the canonical Tenn. Code Ann. where the corpus is stubbed).

The five principal Tennessee statutes

1. Tennessee Human Rights Act (THRA) — Tenn. Code Ann. § 4-21-101 et seq.

The THRA mirrors federal Title VII / ADEA / ADA in substantive prohibitions (race, color, religion, sex, age 40+, national origin, retaliation) but operates on a lower employer-size floor and a shorter judicial SOL.

• Coverage: 8+ employees under § 4-21-102(5) (compare Title VII's 15+ and ADEA's 20+).
• Administrative complaint: 180 days to the Tennessee Human Rights Commission under § 4-21-302(a). Filing with THRC starts an investigative track; the parallel federal charge is filed via THRC's work-share with the EEOC.
• Judicial complaint: 1 year from the discriminatory act under § 4-21-311(d). The judicial track is independent of the administrative track; filing in Chancery / Circuit does not require exhaustion at THRC, but filing at THRC and litigating to a final order may bar a subsequent judicial action (election of remedies). See Hoyle v. NAEYC, 2010 Tenn. App. LEXIS 122.
• Damages: compensatory; punitives available; mandatory attorney's fees on prevailing-plaintiff under § 4-21-311(b).
• Jury trial: yes under § 4-21-311(a).
• Forum: Chancery or Circuit (concurrent subject-matter jurisdiction); General Sessions has no THRA jurisdiction.

2. Tennessee Disability Act (TDA) — Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-50-103

State analog to the ADA with the same 8+ employer-coverage threshold as the THRA. Procedural framework runs through § 4-21-311 (the THRA's enforcement section); SOL and remedies track the THRA.

The 2024 amendment confirmed coverage of "associational discrimination" claims (adverse action against an employee because of the disability of a family member).

3. Tennessee Public Protection Act (TPPA) — Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-304

The TPPA is the principal statutory whistleblower tool. It is not a generic anti-retaliation statute — it requires:

1. The employee refused to participate in or refused to remain silent about an illegal activity;
2. The illegal activity was a violation of statute, regulation, or rule;
3. Discharge solely because of the protected activity (the "sole reason" element).

The "sole reason" element is critical and has defeated many TPPA claims. Williams v. City of Burns, 465 S.W.3d 96 (Tenn. 2015), modified the burden-shifting framework but retained the sole-causation requirement: the employee must show the protected activity was the only reason, with mixed-motive defenses unavailable to plaintiffs.

The TPPA largely codifies the narrow common-law retaliatory- discharge tort recognized in Chism v. Mid-South Milling Co., 762 S.W.2d 552 (Tenn. 1988). For protected activity falling outside the TPPA (e.g., refusal to do something legal but unwise; reporting that is not a clear statutory violation), the common-law tort may still be available but the public-policy hook must be tied to a constitution, statute, or regulation. Crews v. Buckman Labs. Int'l, Inc., 78 S.W.3d 852 (Tenn. 2002), recognized the right of in-house counsel to bring such a claim.

The TPPA also protects lawful off-duty tobacco use under § 50-1-304(d)(3) — Tennessee's "smoker-protection" provision.

4. Tennessee Wage Regulation Act — Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-2-101 et seq.

• Frequency of pay (§ 50-2-103): private employers with 5+ employees must pay semi-monthly; certain industries may pay monthly. The first half of the month's wages must be paid by the 20th of the same month; the second half by the 5th of the succeeding month.
• Final wages: must be paid by the next regular payday following separation or within 21 days, whichever is later (§ 50-2-103(g)). Tennessee does not require immediate payment on discharge.
• Treble damages on willful nonpayment: the Commissioner may assess civil penalties; an employee bringing a private action may recover the unpaid wages plus reasonable attorney's fees and, where the employer acted willfully, statutory liquidated damages. See § 50-2-101(a)(2).
• No state minimum wage: FLSA $7.25/hr federal floor controls. § 50-2-201 expressly does not set a state minimum.

For unpaid-wage claims pleaded as breach of contract the 6-year SOL at § 28-3-109 applies; for the bare statutory remedy treat the SOL as 1 year under § 28-3-104.

5. Workers' Compensation — Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-101 et seq.

Tennessee's workers'-compensation regime is the exclusive remedy for accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of employment (§ 50-6-108). The intentional-tort carve-out is narrow — the employer must have acted with actual intent to injure, not mere knowledge of risk; Valencia v. Freeland & Lemm Constr. Co., 108 S.W.3d 239 (Tenn. 2003).

Critical forum split (post-2013 reform):

• Injuries on or after July 1, 2014: adjudicated by the Court of Workers' Compensation Claims (CWCC) under § 50-6-237 — an administrative trial court within the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, with appeals to the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board and ultimately the Tennessee Supreme Court.
• Injuries before July 1, 2014: adjudicated by the Chancery Court of the appropriate county.

Petitions for Benefit Determination (PBDs) and Petitions for Benefit Review (PBRs) drive the CWCC track; the BWC mediation step (Mediation and Ombudsman Services of Tennessee — MOST) is required before judicial intervention.

The exclusive-remedy bar also limits tort suits against co-employees (§ 50-6-108(b)), with a narrow carve-out for willful injury.

Right-to-work and union mechanics

• Tennessee is a right-to-work state. Compelled union- membership agreements are void under Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-201 et seq. and, since the November 2022 ratification of Amendment 1, under Tenn. Const. art. XI § 21.
• Constitutionalization elevated the protection beyond ordinary statutory repeal; legislative weakening of the protection now requires a constitutional amendment.
• Right-to-work does not bar collective bargaining or union recognition — only compelled membership as a condition of employment.

Non-compete and restrictive covenants

Tennessee has no statewide salary-threshold reform (contrast Washington's RCW 49.62 and California's near-total ban). Non-compete enforceability is governed by common law under Murfreesboro Medical Clinic, P.A. v. Udom, 166 S.W.3d 674 (Tenn. 2005) — the reasonableness test:

1. Protectable interest — confidential information, trade secrets, customer relationships, specialized training. Mere desire to suppress competition is not protectable.
2. Reasonable in time — typically 1–2 years; longer periods require a strong showing of necessity.
3. Reasonable in geographic scope — tied to the territory where the employer actually competes.
4. Reasonable as to scope of restricted activity — restrictions on activities the employee did not perform for the employer are vulnerable.

The court applies a rule of reason and may blue-pencil or "reasonably alter" an overbroad covenant rather than voiding it entirely — Allright Auto Parks v. Berry, 219 Tenn. 280 (1966) — though aggressive judicial rewriting is disfavored.

Physician non-competes are independently regulated by Tenn. Code Ann. § 63-1-148, which caps duration and limits geographic scope; non-conforming physician non- competes are unenforceable.

Trade-secret claims track the Tennessee Uniform Trade Secrets Act (TUTSA) at § 47-25-1701 et seq. — see tn-commercial-disputes for litigation framework.

Federal overlay — the deferral-state framework

The THRC is an EEOC work-share agency. A complaint filed with either THRC or EEOC is dual-filed, and the federal 300-day SOL applies to Title VII / ADA / ADEA / GINA in Tennessee (rather than the 180-day non-deferral baseline).

The 5-year THRC charge and the federal 180-/300-day EEOC clocks run independently for the substantive merits window — but the THRA 1-year judicial SOL is a hard deadline once a plaintiff elects the judicial track.

Forum strategy

Drafting checklist

• Verify employer-size coverage threshold for each pleaded statute (THRA 8+, Title VII 15+, ADEA 20+, FMLA 50+ within 75 miles).
• Confirm the THRA 1-year judicial SOL — calendar from the last discriminatory act (or last act in a continuing violation; Booker v. Boeing Co., 188 S.W.3d 639 (Tenn. 2006)).
• If filing a federal Title VII / ADA / ADEA charge first, preserve the EEOC Right-to-Sue 90-day clock and the independent THRA 1-year clock — they run separately.
• For TPPA: plead the sole-causation element affirmatively and identify the specific statute, regulation, or rule the employer was violating.
• For wage claims pleaded under § 50-2-101 alone, treat the SOL as 1 year; for breach-of-employment-contract claims use the 6-year SOL at § 28-3-109 and plead the contract elements.
• For workers'-comp matters: confirm the injury date — pre- vs. post-July 1, 2014 — and route to Chancery or CWCC accordingly; do not file the post-2014 claim in Chancery.
• For non-compete enforcement: verified complaint + motion for TRO + bond (Tenn. R. Civ. P. 65.04); plead the Udom factors; identify the protectable interest with specificity.
• For non-compete defense: identify which Udom factor fails; consider whether the physician-specific § 63-1-148 cap applies.

Damages and remedies

Composition

• For statewide format and caption: tn-statewide-format
• For Chancery / Circuit venue mechanics: tn-davidson, tn-shelby, tn-knox, tn-hamilton, or tn-county-courts
• For General Sessions wage-claim track (≤ $25k): tn-general-sessions
• For first responsive pleading: tn-first-30-days
• For drafting motions / declarations / orders: tn-draft-motion, tn-draft-declaration, tn-draft-order
• For SOL/limitations arithmetic: tn-deadlines
• For commercial / trade-secret overlap (TUTSA, fiduciary duty, tortious interference): tn-commercial-disputes
• For consumer-debt overlap (garnishment of unpaid-wage judgments): tn-consumer-debt + tn-post-judgment

References

• tn-law-references — Tenn. Code Ann., Tenn. R. Civ. P., and federal-debt-laws (FLSA / ADA / Title VII overlay) symlinked from claude-legal-federal-laws
• Tenn. Code Ann. Title 4 ch. 21 (THRA — when corpus is populated)
• Tenn. Code Ann. Title 50 chs. 1 (TPPA / right-to-work), 2 (Wage Regulation), 6 (Workers' Comp), 9 (Drug-Free Workplace)
• Tenn. Code Ann. Title 8 ch. 50 (TDA)
• Murfreesboro Medical Clinic, P.A. v. Udom, 166 S.W.3d 674 (Tenn. 2005)
• Williams v. City of Burns, 465 S.W.3d 96 (Tenn. 2015)
• Stein v. Davidson Hotel Co., 945 S.W.2d 714 (Tenn. 1997)
• Chism v. Mid-South Milling Co., 762 S.W.2d 552 (Tenn. 1988)
• Crews v. Buckman Labs. Int'l, Inc., 78 S.W.3d 852 (Tenn. 2002)
• Valencia v. Freeland & Lemm Constr. Co., 108 S.W.3d 239 (Tenn. 2003)
• Court of Workers' Compensation Claims: https://www.tn.gov/workforce/injuries-at-work/court-of-workers--compensation-claims.html
• Tennessee Human Rights Commission: https://www.tn.gov/humanrights.html