Employment laws and bills in Tennessee

Every bill in the Tennessee Legislature that falls inside the Employment and Labor Legislation Tracker's scope, with where each one currently stands.

Bills in scope
33bills in scope
Past committee
16past committee
Most recent action
27 May 2026most recent action

Employment laws enacted in Tennessee in 2026

7 Employment bills were enacted in Tennessee this year, the latest with a last action on 27 May 2026. They lead the list below.

Employment bills in Tennessee

13Enacted

3Past committee

17Introduced or inactive

33 bills in scope

Enacted

13

HB 2541Salaries and Benefits - As enacted, expresses the public policy that the prevailing wage rate be paid to workers on non-state contracts for construction projects on public highways; makes other revisions to the Prevailing Wage Act for State Highway Construction Projects. - Amends TCA Title 12, Chapter 4, Part 4.EnactedHB 2542Unemployment Compensation - As enacted, removes a requirement that work be deemed suitable for a claimant if certain criteria are met and a claimant's gross weekly wages equal or exceed certain threshold percentages of the claimant's weekly wage for insured work for the quarter of the base period when the claimant's wages were greatest. - Amends TCA Section 50-7-303.EnactedSB 1861Workers Compensation - As enacted, authorizes the chief administrative officer of the bureau of workers' compensation of the department of labor and workforce development to disburse funds from the subsequent injury and vocational recovery fund for costs associated with implementing and maintaining a computer system for the bureau of workers' compensation; makes other changes related to workers' compensation. - Amends TCA Title 50, Chapter 6, Part 2.EnactedSB 1981Workers Compensation - As enacted, adds a requirement that an award of attorneys' fees and costs incurred when an employer unreasonably denies a workers' compensation claim or unreasonably fails to timely initiate any of the benefits associated with the claim must be based on a finding by the workers' compensation judge that the employer's conduct was unreasonable; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 50, Chapter 6.EnactedSB 2032Employees, Employers - As enacted, requires a public safety employer to provide an employee or prospective employee with reasonable access to the employee's or prospective employee's full employment record, including the results of any mental health evaluation or screening; makes certain other changes relative to employment by a public safety employer. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 38; Title 50; Title 62 and Title 68.EnactedSB 2024Employees, Employers - As enacted, exempts from the requirement that wages earned by employees in private employment are due and payable no later than the fifth day of the succeeding month those employees who are employed on a piece-work or commission basis, and requires that compensation for such employees is due and payable by the last day of the succeeding month; makes certain other changes relative to employee compensation. - Amends TCA Title 50, Chapter 2, Part 1.EnactedSB 674Employees, Employers - As enacted, clarifies that the general assembly preempts and occupies the entire field of regulating the terms and conditions of employment; prohibits local governments from adopting or enforcing any law, rule, or policy that requires a term or condition of employment that exceeds or conflicts with state or federal law. - Amends TCA Title 7 and Title 50.EnactedHB 622Local Government, General - As enacted, enacts "Dismantle DEI in Employment Act." - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8 and Title 49.EnactedSB 322Salaries and Benefits - As enacted, grants eligible employees leave of up to six workweeks because the employee is caring for a family member with a serious health condition. - Amends TCA Section 8-50-813.EnactedSB 251Public Employees - As enacted, establishes that a retiree who is a member of the Tennessee consolidated retirement system must have had a bona fide separation of service before the retiree is allowed to accept temporary reemployment without a loss or suspension of benefits in the retirement system; makes other changes to the present law relative to reemployment after retirement from public employment. - Amends TCA Section 8-25-213 and Title 8, Chapter 36, Part 8.EnactedSB 279Military - As enacted, defines "working day" for purposes of determining the military leave and compensation available to state and local government employees who are members of any reserve component of the armed forces of the United States who are called to active military service. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 33.EnactedHB 1096Economic and Community Development - As enacted, prohibits an employer seeking to receive an economic development incentive from the state from entering into a community benefits agreement or similar legal contract if the agreement or contract imposes obligations or conditions on the employer regarding employment practices, benefits, or operations that are not directly related to the performance of the employer’s duties under the economic development incentive. - Amends TCA Title 4.EnactedHB 128Workers Compensation - As enacted, increases, from 30 to 35, the minimum age for an individual to serve as a judge on the workers' compensation appeals board; increases, from two to three, the number of additional terms to which a judge of the workers' compensation appeals board may be reappointed; makes other changes related to workers' compensation. - Amends TCA Title 50, Chapter 6, Part 2.Enacted

Past committee

3

HB 2617Labor and Workforce Development, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the governor to approve all eligible workforce training programs for the purposes of federal workforce Pell grants and coordinate approval of eligible workforce training programs with other state and federal workforce programs to avoid duplicative payments for the same student costs that are covered by federal workforce Pell grants. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 14.Passed committeeHB 2213Employees, Employers - As introduced, creates the "Anti-Retaliation for Reporting Unsafe Work Act." - Amends TCA Title 50.Passed committeeHB 1384Employees, Employers - As introduced, enacts the "Pay Stub Protection Act," which requires an employer to provide a statement to an employee on the employer's payday that contains certain information about the employee and the employee's wages and hours worked during the applicable pay period. - Amends TCA Title 3; Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8 and Title 50.Passed committee

Introduced or inactive

9 of 17 shown

HB 2248Salaries and Benefits - As introduced, requires employers to pay employees an hourly wage of at least $20 beginning January 1, 2027, with annual adjustments by the commissioner of labor and workforce development based on increases in the consumer price index; establishes posting mandates, civil liability for violations, and a two-to-three-year statute of limitations for recovery actions. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 9; Title 13; Title 29; Title 47; Title 50; Title 57; Title 58; Title 65; Title 67 and Title 68.In committeeHB 2004Employees, Employers - As introduced, requires private-sector employers to compensate employees for accumulated paid leave upon separation from service from employment. - Amends TCA Title 8 and Title 50, Chapter 2.In committeeHB 2455Economic and Community Development - As introduced, creates a condition of eligibility for certain economic development incentives that employers certify that they pay employees working on the development project for which the incentive was granted at least $21.99 an hour beginning July 1, 2026, with annual adjustments thereafter by the commissioner of economic and community development based on the MIT living wage calculator; allows for recovering from employers found to be in violation of such wage requirements the incentives already provided. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 50.In committeeHB 1216Employees, Employers - As introduced, increases the hourly minimum wage to $20.00, or the federal minimum wage established pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, whichever rate is greater. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 23; Title 12, Chapter 4, Part 4 and Title 50, Chapter 2.In committeeHB 1399Salaries and Benefits - As introduced, increases, from $7.25 to $20, the minimum hourly wage for employees within this state. - Amends TCA Section 8-23-203; Title 12 and Title 50, Chapter 2.In committeeHB 2524Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates the new criminal offenses of systematic unauthorized employment and aggravated systematic unauthorized employment; establishes the tort of unfair competition. - Amends TCA Title 29 and Title 39.In committeeHB 2006Employees, Employers - As introduced, enacts the "Workers' Right to Live Act," which places mandatory reporting requirements on employers concerning workplace fatalities and imposes penalties on employers for workplace fatalities that were a result of employer negligence; makes changes related to workers' compensation benefits. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 29 and Title 50.In committeeHB 1727State Employees - As introduced, requires certain government employers to provide job-protected unpaid leave for a qualifying medical emergency to employees that meet certain criteria. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 49 and Title 50.In committeeHB 791Employees, Employers - As introduced, enacts the "Workers' Right to Live Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 29 and Title 50.In committee

Showing the 25 furthest along of 33. Subscribers see all of them, filtered and searchable. Bill titles link to the Tennessee Legislature's own page.

What LawSignals covers

What counts as Employment and Labor Legislation legislation

In scope is any bill governing the employment relationship: minimum, prevailing and overtime wages, wage theft, worker classification and gig work, paid sick, family and medical leave, unemployment and workers' compensation, discrimination, harassment, pay equity and pay range disclosure, unions and public sector bargaining, workplace safety and heat standards, electronic monitoring and automated hiring tools, and noncompete and nondisclosure agreements.

Tracker scopes are model-drafted, not attorney-reviewed.

Other practice areas in Tennessee

Employment legislation in other jurisdictions

52 more currently hold bills in this tracker

Tennessee is one of Employment and Labor Legislation's jurisdictions

One report a month on what moved, in every state and Congress.

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