Tennessee Passes Antibullying Law: Employment Law Manual Updated

Authors: Beth Zoller and Marta Moakley, XpertHR Legal Editors

Tennessee has enacted the Healthy Workplace Act, 2014 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 997, the first law of its kind to specifically address bullying and abusive behavior in the workplace. It applies only to public employees (i.e., those employed by state and local governments and their agencies) and does not apply to private employers.

Under the Act, the Tennessee Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) is directed to create a model policy to prevent abusive conduct by no later than March 1, 2015. A covered employer that adopts the model policy or a policy that conforms to its requirements will have immunity from any employee lawsuit for abusive conduct resulting in negligent or intentional infliction of mental anguish.

The Employee Handbooks - Work Rules - Employee Conduct: Tennessee and Employee Discipline: Tennessee sections of the Employment Law Manual have been updated to reflect this development.