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 take off the next scheduled work period within 12 hours of his firefighting duties. The time off may be taken as a vacation day or sick leave day if he assisted in fighting the fire for more than four hours. Once again, however, the term "may" seems to indicate that you aren't required to allow an employee this benefit.

In light of this new statutory provision, it's probably a good idea to check your written policies concerning volunteer firefighters and make changes, if necessary.

Public Chapter 820 (Employment Of Illegal Aliens). This bill amends TCA Section 50-1-103 to provide that if an employer is informed that a complaint has been filed accusing it of employing illegal aliens, the employer is entitled to request the name of the person, agency, or entity filing the complaint.

Public Chapter 1159 (Jury Service). Employees are protected from adverse employment actions while engaged in jury service. The requirements concerning this protection were formerly contained in TCA Section 22-4-108. Public Chapter 1159 changes the statutory citation to TCA Section 22-4-106.

Public Chapters 922 And 1068 (Child Care Agency Employees). Public Chapter 922 amends TCA Section 71-3-507 to require a criminal background check for all employees having significant contact with children, in addition to fingerprinting.

Public Chapter 1068 amends TCA Title 71, Chapter 3, Part 5, to provide that all employees having significant contact with children must also be given drug tests.

Public Chapter 973 (Criminal Harassment). Tennessee has a criminal harassment statute contained in TCA Section 39-17-308. Public Chapter 973 amends the statute to clarify that text messaging and fax transmissions can constitute harassment.

Public Chapter 1140 (Tennessee Human Trafficking Act). This legislation makes minor changes to the Tennessee Human Trafficking Act, which was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2007 (TCA Section 39-13-301, et al.). It's important to know about this Act because you may be prosecuted under it if you or one of your agents engages in human trafficking, including the trafficking of immigrant employees.

Public Chapter 1011 (Child Abuse And Child Sexual Abuse). This public chapter amends TCA Section 37-1-403 to place greater responsibility on schoolteachers and other school personnel to report child abuse and child sexual abuse when they know or should reasonably know about it.

Public Chapter 848 (HIV/AIDS). This bill amends TCA Section 68-11-222(c) to provide that if an employee, student, or other worker of a health care facility or an inpatient mental health facility is exposed to the blood or other bodily fluid of a patient, the facility can require that the patient's blood be tested for the presence of hepatitis B and the HIV/AIDS virus.

Public Chapter 1105 (Leave Of Absence). This public chapter amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 51, to provide that if a municipality or county has a personnel policy that places an employee on leave immediately following the employee's arrest, the municipality or county must restore his pay if the charges are dropped or he is found not guilty of the charges.

Public Chapter 935 (Continuation Of Group Health Coverage). Tennessee has its own version of COBRA in TCA Section 56-7-2312, which comes into play for employers with fewer than 20 employees. If you're one of those employers, you should familiarize yourself with Public Chapter 935, which makes minor changes to the payment provisions for an employee who elects to continue health coverage under the Tennessee law.

Public Chapter 885 (Whistleblowing). This legislation amendsTennessee's whistleblower statute, found in TCA Title 50, Chapter 1, Part 3, to state that schoolteachers cannot be terminated or otherwise retaliated against for engaging in protected whistleblowing.

This article is posted with permission from Tennessee Employment Law Letter, which is published by M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC. For more information, go to www.hrhero.com.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.