Tennessee Has a Brand-New Framework for Employment Discrimination Enforcement: What Do Employers Need to Know?
Tennessee just said goodbye to its longstanding civil rights enforcement agency and created a new enforcement division to handle employment discrimination complaints. What do employers in the state need to know about this transfer of power? What happened? In May, Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill ( HB 910/SB 861 ) into law requiring a transfer of power over civil rights enforcement duties held by the Tennessee Human Rights Commission (THRC), including its responsibilities for handling employment discrimination complaints. As a result of the new law, the THRC dissolved as a state agency on June 30, and the former state agency’s enforcement duties were transferred, effective as follows: State-level civil rights enforcement duties were transferred to a newly created Division of Civil Rights Enforcement (CRED) within the Tennessee Office of the Attorney General and Reporter (AG) . CRED is now the primary enforcement arm of the Tennessee Human Rights Act (THRA) and the Tennessee Disa...