The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Tennessee
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Tenn. Code Ann. sec. 8-6-109; construing 2021 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 513 and Tennessee employment law
- Issued
- 2021-10-06 Oct. 6, 2021
- Effective
- 2021-10-06 (opinion) (read as 2021-10-06)
- End
- n/a (opinion; the legislature restricted private vaccination requirements by 2021 Tenn. Pub. Acts (3d Ex. Sess.) ch. 6, Nov. 12, 2021, Ex. TN-066) (read as 2021-11-12)
- In force
- Oct. 6, 2021 to Nov. 12, 2021
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesVaccination or testing
- Addressees
- Character
- agency interpretation
- Collection
- Standing duties: Tennessee DUT-TN
Operative words
Tennessee law does not prohibit private employers from requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment.
Penalty
What it required
Stated the law as it stood through the third quarter of 2021: a private employer could impose COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to federal law (the opinion names the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the National Labor Relations Act) and contractual obligations; the opinion records the employer's authority and responsibility over workplace health conditions. Character as recorded: agency_interpretation (Attorney General opinion; permissive: 'does not prohibit').
Retrieval noteOfficial PDF from the Attorney General's site (193,293 bytes); dated October 6, 2021 in the text layer. Issued after the six quarters; recorded as the Attorney General's statement of the standing law that governed employers' workplace health conditions during them.