2008 Tennessee Employment Legislation Review
Unlike last year's Nonsmoker Protection Act, there
were no major headline grabbers in the employment legislation
that was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly this session.
However, the legislature did consider several bills affecting
Tennessee employers. The following is a summary of the
more significant bills enacted into law.
Public Chapters 642 And 695 (Garnishments).
Public Chapter 642 amends Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA)
Section 26-2-203 to provide that an employer has 10 business
days, instead of 10 days, to file an answer to a garnishment.
According to the amendment, a business day is any day other
than a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday, or day on which the
appropriate court clerk's office is closed.
Public Chapter 695 makes relatively minor adjustments to the
official form for calculating garnishment payments and adds a
provision at the end of the form requiring the employer to
certify "under penalty of perjury" that the
information provided is correct.
Public Chapter 650 (Political
Activity). TCA Section 2-19-206 prevents government
employees from displaying campaign literature, banners,
placards, streamers, stickers, signs, or other political or
campaign advertising on government-owned property. Public
Chapter 650 amends TCA Section 2-19-206 to allow an employee to
display a political decal or bumper sticker on his personal
vehicle while it's parked on government property.
Public Chapter 706 (Disability). There are
a number of Tennessee statutes, including employment statutes,
that refer to the terms "handicap, handicaps, and
handicapped." Public Chapter 706 changes those terms to
"disability, disabilities, and disabled."
Public Chapter 791 (Volunteer
Firefighters). TCA Section 50-1-307 already provides
volunteer firefighters protection from losing their jobs when
they're called to respond to a fire. Public Chapter 791
adds TCA Section 50-1-309 to state that a volunteer firefighter
"may" be permitted to leave work to respond to a fire
call without loss of pay, vacation time, sick time, or earned
overtime accumulation. Since the term "may" is used,
and in light of the provisions of TCA Section 50-1-307, it
appears that you aren't required to provide a volunteer
firefighter his pay, vacation time, sick leave, or earned
overtime accumulation while he's away from work fighting a
fire.
The new provision goes on to state that a volunteer
firefighter who's called to fight a fire during his regular
work hours "may" be permitted to...
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