Title 50, Employer And Employee

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Department” means the department of labor and workforce development;(2) “Employer” means a municipality, county, metropolitan form of government, or other political subdivision of this state that employs firefighters;(3) “Fire department”:(A) Mean…

(a) When the injury or death for which compensation is payable under this chapter was caused under circumstances creating a legal liability against some person other than the employer to pay damages, the injured worker, or the injured worker's dependents, shall have the right to …

(a) A principal contractor, intermediate contractor or subcontractor shall be liable for compensation to any employee injured while in the employ of any of the subcontractors of the principal contractor, intermediate contractor or subcontractor and engaged upon the subject matter…

(a) No contract or agreement, written or implied, or rule, regulation or other device, shall in any manner operate to relieve any employer, in whole or in part, of any obligation created by this chapter, except as provided in subsection (b). (b) Any employer may set off from temp…

(a) For purposes of this section, an employee is considered to be temporarily in a state working for an employer if the employee is working for such employee's employer in a state other than the state where such employee is primarily employed for no more than fourteen (14) consec…

For any claim for workers' compensation benefits for an injury, as defined in this chapter, when the date of injury is on or after July 1, 2014, this chapter shall not be remedially or liberally construed but shall be construed fairly, impartially, and in accordance with basic pr…

(a) The bureau of workers' compensation shall, by rule promulgated pursuant to the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, establish and collect penalties for the following:(1) Failure of a covered employer to provide workers' compensation coverage …

(a) In order to provide greater awareness among employers and employees of the rights and obligations of the workers' compensation laws, the bureau of workers' compensation shall institute an information awareness program. The program shall:(1) Involve a statewide effort to consu…

(a) No construction design professional, or any employee of the construction design professional, who is retained to perform professional services on a construction project, shall be liable for the personal injury or death of any nonemployee of the construction design professiona…

(a) (1) (A) There is created an advisory council on workers' compensation. There shall be seven (7) voting members of the council, with three (3) representing employers, three (3) representing employees, and one (1) member who shall serve as the chair and who shall be the state t…

(a) (1) It is the intent of the general assembly that quality medical care services shall be available to injured and disabled employees. It is also the legislative intent to control increasing medical costs in workers' compensation matters by establishing cost control mechanisms…

(a) All case managers, including case manager assistants, coordinating the medical care services provided to employees claiming benefits or handling claims of employees claimed under this chapter shall be certified by the bureau pursuant to this section. (b) The administrator sha…

(a) The administrator of the bureau of workers' compensation shall establish a system of utilization review of selected outpatient and inpatient healthcare providers for employees claiming benefits under this chapter, to be performed by utilization review organizations accredited…

(a) (1) The administrator shall appoint a medical payment committee. The committee shall hear disputes on medical bill payments between providers and insurers and advise the administrator on issues relating to the medical fee schedule and medical care cost containment in the work…

(1) The administrator shall appoint a medical director who shall be the executive secretary and a nonvoting ex officio member of the medical committee. The medical director shall be appointed from a list of three (3) nominees submitted by the Tennessee Medical Association. If the…

(a) The administrator, in consultation with the commissioner of commerce and insurance and appropriate law enforcement officials, shall implement a public awareness program concerning workers' compensation fraud. (b) The bureau of workers' compensation shall investigate to determ…

If any employer knowingly, willfully, and intentionally causes a medical or wage loss claim to be paid under health or sickness and accident insurance, or fails to provide reasonable and necessary medical treatment, including a failure to reimburse when the employer knew that the…

Medical records provided to the bureau of workers' compensation in the course of its activities and the review of settlements pursuant to this chapter shall remain confidential and shall not be considered to be public records.

No later than December 31 of each year, the bureau of workers' compensation shall produce a report that includes a listing of the name of each covered employer that failed, during the preceding state fiscal year, to provide workers' compensation coverage or qualify as a self-insu…

The bureau shall, on or before July 1, 2015, and annually thereafter, review the impact of the Workers' Compensation Reform Act of 2013 on the workers' compensation system in this state and deliver a report of its findings to each member of the general assembly.

(a) (1) The administrator shall appoint a medical advisory committee comprised of practitioners in the medical community having experience in the treatment of workers' compensation injuries, representatives of the insurance industry, employer representatives, and employee represe…

(a) An injured employee or the injured employee's representative shall, immediately upon the occurrence of an injury, or as soon thereafter as is reasonable and practicable, give or cause to be given to the employer who has no actual notice, written notice of the injury, and the …

(a) On or after July 1, 2014, the administrator, in cooperation with the commissioner of commerce and insurance, shall adopt rules regarding the electronic submission and processing of medical bills by health care providers to insurance carriers. (b) Insurance carriers shall acce…

(a) No request for a hearing by a workers' compensation judge under this chapter shall be filed with the court of workers' compensation claims, other than a request for settlement approval, until a workers' compensation mediator has issued a dispute certification notice certifyin…

(a) (1) (A) The employer or the employer's agent shall furnish, free of charge to the employee, such medical and surgical treatment, medicine, medical and surgical supplies, crutches, artificial members, and other reasonable and necessary apparatus, including prescription eyeglas…

(a) No compensation shall be allowed for the first seven (7) days of disability resulting from the injury, excluding the day of injury, except the benefits provided for in § 50-6-204, but if disability extends beyond that period, compensation shall commence with the eighth day af…

(1) Temporary Total Disability. The following is the schedule of compensation to be allowed employees under this chapter:(1) Temporary Total Disability. (A) For injury producing temporary total disability, sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66⅔%) of the average weekly wages as def…

(a) (1) If an employee has previously sustained a permanent physical disability from any cause or origin and becomes permanently and totally disabled through a subsequent injury, the employee shall be entitled to compensation from the employee's employer or the employer's insuran…

(a) In all cases of permanent total disability of an employee covered by this chapter, sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66 ⅔%) of the average weekly wages shall be paid, subject to maximum compensation as follows: where there are or are not persons dependent upon each injured em…

(a) Persons Wholly Dependent. For the purposes of this chapter, the following persons shall be conclusively presumed to be wholly dependent:(1) A surviving spouse, unless it is shown that the surviving spouse was voluntarily living apart from the surviving spouse's spouse at the …

(a) In case any employee for whose injury or death compensation is payable under this chapter, shall, at the time of injury, be employed and paid jointly by two (2) or more employers subject to this chapter, the employers shall contribute to the payment of the compensation in a p…

(a) In all claims for compensation for hernia or rupture, resulting from injury by accident arising primarily out of and in the course and scope of the employee's employment, it must be definitely proven to the satisfaction of the court that:(1) There was an injury resulting in h…

(a) Epileptics may elect not to be subject to this part for injuries resulting because of epilepsy and still remain subject to its provisions for all other injuries. (b) This election shall be made by giving notice to the employer in writing on a form to be furnished by the burea…

(a) The administrator or the administrator's designee shall order appropriate workers' compensation benefits and loss adjustment expenses associated with the claim to be paid on an equal basis by the insurance carrier or carriers and the self-insured employer, as appropriate, in …

(a) This section may be referred to as the “Rental and Assignment of PPO Network Rights.” (b) For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Contracting agent” means any person that is in direct privity of contract with a medical provider to reimburse th…

(a) The administrator shall establish a workers' compensation ombudsman program to assist injured or disabled employees, persons claiming death benefits, employers, and other persons in protecting their rights, resolving disputes, and obtaining information available under workers…

(a) (1) The administrator shall establish a workers' compensation appeals board, which must be wholly separate from the court of workers' compensation claims, to review interlocutory and final orders entered by workers' compensation judges upon application of any party to a worke…

(a) (a) The governor, in consultation with the speaker of the house of representatives and the speaker of the senate, shall appoint three (3) qualified individuals to serve as judges on the workers' compensation appeals board. Each individual selected shall be a Tennessee license…

The administrator shall institute and maintain an education and training program for workers' compensation mediators, workers' compensation judges, the chief judge, ombudsmen, and the judges of the workers' compensation appeals board in order to assure that these persons maintain…

(a) Whenever payment of compensation is made to a surviving spouse for the surviving spouse's use, or for the surviving spouse's use and the use of a child or children, the written receipt of the payment by the surviving spouse shall acquit the employer in this and all other juri…

All rights of compensation granted by this chapter shall have the same preference or priority for the whole thereof against the assets of the employer as is allowed by law for any unpaid wages for labor.

(a) No claim for compensation under this chapter shall be assignable, and all compensation and claims for compensation shall be exempt from claims of creditors. (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), compensation made by periodic payments shall be subject to income assignment for pa…

(a) (1) If a party is dissatisfied or aggrieved by a workers' compensation appeals board decision to certify a compensation order of the court of workers' compensation claims as final, then the party may appeal to the supreme court, where the cause shall be heard and determined a…

(a) (1) The reasonableness of attorney fees for services to employees under this chapter is subject to the approval of the workers' compensation judge before whom the matter is pending; provided, that attorney fees must not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the amount of the recover…

(a) The amounts of compensation payable periodically under this chapter may be commuted to one (1) or more lump sum payments. These may be commuted upon motion of any party subject to the approval of the court of workers' compensation claims. No agreed stipulation or order or any…