TENNESSEE - Workers’ Rights

Definition of agricultural worker under state law:

• For purposes of Tennessee’s Employment Security Law, “[a]gricultural labor” is defined at TENN. CODE ANN. § 50-7-207.

Wages and Overtime

Minimum Wage

There is no state minimum wage law.

Overtime

There is no state law regarding overtime pay.

State Enforcement Agency

Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development (directs individuals with questions on these issues to the federal DOL) – https://www.tn.gov/workforce/employees/labor-laws/labor-laws-redirect/wages-breaks.html

Occupational Safety and Health

Workers’ Compensation

Agricultural workers are excluded from the state workers’ compensation law.  (Tenn. Ann. Code § 50-6-106(4)). However, employers of agricultural workers may choose to voluntarily operate under the workers’ compensation law.

State Enforcement Agency:
Bureau of Worker’s Compensation, Department of Labor & Workforce Development
Website: https://www.tn.gov/workforce/injuries-at-work.html
Relevant forms: https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/workforce/injuries-at-work/bureau-services/bureau-services/workers–comp-forms.html

Field Sanitation

• Under the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Act, the state has adopted the OSHA field sanitation standards. (TENN. COMP. R. & REGS. 0800-01-07-.01, 0800-01-07-.02, TENN. CODE ANN. § 50-3-105)

State Enforcement Agency:

Occupational Safety and Health Division, Department of Labor & Workforce Development

Website: https://www.tn.gov/workforce.html

Pesticide Safety

• There are state regulations governing pesticide safety in agriculture. The state adopts the federal WPS standards. (TENN. CODE ANN. § 43-8, TENN. COMP. R. & REGS. 0080-09-05)
• Suspected pesticide poisoning is not a reportable illness for health care providers.

State Enforcement Agency:

Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Pesticides

Website: https://www.tn.gov/agriculture/businesses/pesticides.html

Right to Join Unions and Collective Bargaining in Agriculture

• There is no provision (or judicial interpretation of a provision) in the state constitution that grants farmworkers the right to join and organize labor unions free from retaliation or to engage in collective bargaining with their employers.

• Tennessee is a “right to work” state.  (Tenn. Ann. Code §§ 50-1-201 and 50-1-206.)  Like many right to work laws, the Tennessee statute prohibits employers from denying employment to a person because of his membership in or affiliation with a labor union or employee organization.  (Tenn. Ann. Code § 50-1-201).
• It is unlawful to recruit a worker for employment without informing him of any strike, lockout or “other labor trouble” at the place of employment.  (Tenn. Ann. Code § 50-1-102(2)).

State Legal Services Organizations

Southern Migrant Legal Services – A Project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc.

https://www.trla.org/southern-migrant-legal-services-smls