No state-mandated paid family leave for private employers
Tennessee does not operate a state-mandated paid family and medical leave program for private-sector employees. The state has not enacted legislation requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave, paid parental leave, or other forms of paid time off. Private-sector workers in Tennessee rely primarily on federal protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for qualifying family and medical reasons.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor — FMLA
Jury duty leave — paid leave requirement for employers with 5+ employees
Tennessee requires employers with five or more regular employees to provide paid time off for jury service when the employee has worked for the employer for at least six months on more than a temporary basis. The employee must exhibit the jury summons to their immediate supervisor on the next workday after receiving it. Employers must excuse the employee from work and pay usual compensation for time actually spent serving on a jury and traveling to and from court, but only when jury service exceeds three hours in any given day. Employers have discretion to deduct the fee or compensation the employee receives from the state for jury service. Employees may not be discharged, demoted, or suspended for taking jury leave when they have given the required notice.
Source: Tenn. Code Ann. § 22-4-106 (quoted at U.S. District Court E.D. Tenn.)
Voting leave — up to three hours with no pay reduction
Tennessee law entitles employees to take time off from work to vote in elections held in the state, with statutory protection against pay reduction or penalty for the absence. Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-1-106 provides that any person entitled to vote in an election held in Tennessee may be absent from work on election day for a reasonable period of time, not to exceed three hours, to vote during the time the polls are open in the county where the employee resides.
Eligibility threshold based on work schedule. An employee is entitled to voting leave only if the employee's work schedule does not already provide sufficient non-working time to vote. Specifically, if the employee's tour of duty begins three or more hours after the opening of the polls or ends three or more hours before the closing of the polls in the county where the employee is a resident, the employee may not take time off under the statute. The three-hour window is measured between either the poll opening and the start of the shift, or the end of the shift and the poll closing.
Advance notice requirement. An employee must apply for voting leave before 12:00 noon on the day before the election. The statute requires the employee to request the absence from the employer by that deadline.
Employer control over timing. The employer may specify the hours during which the employee may be absent. Tennessee employers retain discretion to designate whether the employee takes voting leave at the beginning, middle, or end of the work shift, subject to the three-hour maximum.
No pay reduction or penalty. A voter who is absent from work to vote in compliance with the statute may not be subjected to any penalty or reduction in pay for the absence. The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development further notes that Tennessee employees may not be disciplined or discharged for voting in elections, treating voting leave as an exception to the state's at-will employment doctrine.
The statute applies to elections held in Tennessee. Poll closing times vary by county in Tennessee; each county determines its poll hours at least 15 days prior to the election.
Source: Tenn. Dep't of Labor & Workforce Dev. — Employee Rights (citing Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-1-106)