The Tennessee Supreme Court very recently issued a decision addressing whether an employer that refuses to hire a job applicant because of her past workers’ compensation claims with another employer violates the Tennessee workers compensation statutes and can be sued for “retaliatory failure to hire.” In that case, the employer was contracted by a hospital […]

Most private sector employees in Tennessee are classified as “employees at will.” That means the employment relationship can be terminated by either the employer or employee at any time, without notice and for any reason that is not illegal or against public policy (i.e., not involving race, gender, disability or age discrimination, etc.). Thus, absent […]

Earlier this year I posted regarding an expanding collaboration between various state and federal agencies to combat misclassification of employees as independent contractors. This effort is being spearheaded by the US Department of Labor, which reports receiving numerous complaints of misclassification for the purposes of avoiding minimum wage and overtime compensation requirements, unemployment insurance and […]

On June 25, 2015 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a memorandum to its regional and state enforcement offices announcing a new inspection emphasis for inpatient healthcare providers such as hospitals and residential care facilities. The impetus for this initiative is the significantly higher rates of workplace injuries in these employment settings attributable […]

The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Obergefell v Hodges striking down state law prohibitions of same sex marriage and requiring states to recognize such marriages from other states will have some immediate impact in the workplace. That is particularly true for employers in states such as Tennessee where no prior lower federal court […]

My final post in this 3 part series addresses non-competes from the employee’s perspective. I am regularly retained to review noncompetition agreements (“noncompetes”) by employees who were fired or resigned to accept another job. Unfortunately for many of them, they were not familiar with and sometimes even aware of the noncompete terms before leaving their […]

In my last post I discussed the differences between the various types of employment agreements designed to restrict an employee’s post-employment activities and identified the factors Tennessee courts analyze when determining whether to enforce a non-competition agreement (“non-compete”). The threshold test, however, is whether the employer has a legitimate “protectable interest” that will be damaged […]

This post is the first of a multi-part series discussing employee non-competition agreements (“non-competes”). This installment describes the different forms of contractual limitations employers often use in an effort to protect their business interests following a key employee’s departure and the factors Tennessee courts analyze when asked to enforce non-competes. Future posts will discuss non-competition […]

I am often asked by employers if they can deduct from an employee’s paycheck money owed the employer for payroll advances, personal loans or for lost or damaged company property issued to the employee. Another common question is whether an employer may deduct from an employee’s final paycheck amounts previously advanced for vacation or sick […]