Workers Compensation

Overview
Tennessee cities do not have to provide workers' compensation, but most choose to. This page explains how a city opts in, the benefits an injured employee may receive, and the 2013 reform that transferred jurisdiction from the courts to a state administrative agency.

Voluntary coverage for cities
City governments are among the few employers that are not automatically required to provide workers' compensation. A city may voluntarily choose to come under the state Workers' Compensation Law. Coverage takes effect 30 days after the city files a written notice with the commissioner of labor.

See the state exemption registry at https://www.tn.gov/workforce/injuries-at-work/employers/employers/wc-exemption-registry/`

A city may cover only certain departments (T.C.A. §§ 50-6-101, et seq.). Effective July 1, 2000, employers with more than 250 employees must file employee information on magnetic media (T.C.A. § 50-7-404(c)(3)-(4)).

Filing and time limits
If a city has elected coverage and a claim is filed, the employer must submit a wage statement to the court within 60 days of answering the complaint. The statement must detail the employee's wages for the previous 52 weeks unless the employer stipulates that the maximum rate applies (T.C.A. § 50-6-225(c)).

An action for recovery must be filed within one year of the accident, unless the employer makes voluntary payments in that period. If voluntary payments were made, an action for unpaid compensation may be filed one year from the last medical treatment or from the last voluntary payment, whichever is later (T.C.A. § 50-6-203). A city may cancel coverage at any time by written notice, and may cover or cancel selected departments (T.C.A. § 50-6-106(5)).

General benefits
An employee with a compensable injury (one the authorized treating physician has determined to be work-related) may receive:

• Disability benefits: weekly compensation for compensable injuries
• Medical benefits at no cost to the employee, for as long as the authorized treating physician requires (mileage reimbursement is available for travel over 15 miles)
• Permanent disability and final settlement, including scheduled-injury awards and reconsideration of a permanent partial disability settlement
• Death benefits

If the authorized treating physician takes the employee off work for fewer than 14 days, temporary disability benefits are not paid for the first seven days missed. If the employee is off work more than 14 days, benefits are due from the first day of disability. Temporary disability benefits are usually two-thirds of the employee's average weekly wage from the 52 weeks before the injury.

Compensation for a compensable injury must reach the injured employee within 15 calendar days after notice of injury. Unpaid or late payments can trigger a penalty.

2013 reform (effective July 1, 2014)
Public Chapter 280 of the 2013 General Assembly enacted the Workers' Compensation Reform Act of 2013, and its major provisions took effect July 1, 2014. Regulatory treatment guidelines adopted by the Workers' Compensation Administrator took effect January 1, 2016.

The reform made several key changes:

• Administrative and procedural: created the Division of Workers' Compensation within the Department of Labor and Workforce Development; moved adjudication out of the courts and into an administrative system; added a mediation and ombudsman program; and required that the law be construed "fairly, impartially, and in accordance with basic principles of statutory construction," not remedially or liberally in favor of either party.
• Compensability: to be compensable, an injury must arise primarily out of and in the course and scope of employment. That means, by a preponderance of the evidence, the employment contributed more than 50% in causing the injury when considering all causes.
• Medical: streamlined access to medical records; created a Medical Payment Committee and a Medical Advisory Committee; and set a conclusive presumption of maximum medical improvement when the treating physician ends active care and only provides pain management.
• Indemnity: disability benefits are calculated on a body-as-a-whole basis; the duration of temporary partial disability benefits was extended; and the older partial disability multiplier was replaced with a formula based on age, education, and unemployment rate.

Statutory anchors

• T.C.A. §§ 50-6-101, et seq. (Workers' Compensation Law)
•  T.C.A. § 50-6-106(5) (cancellation and selective coverage for cities)
• T.C.A. § 50-6-203 (limitations period)
• T.C.A. § 50-6-225(c) (wage statement)
• Public Chapter 280 (2013) (Workers' Compensation Reform Act)