Title 50, Employer And Employee

(a) An individual shall be deemed “unemployed” in any week during which the individual performs no services and with respect to which no wages are payable to the individual, or in any week of less than full-time work if the wages payable to the individual with respect to the week…

“Unemployment compensation administration fund” means the unemployment compensation administration fund established by this chapter, from which regular administrative expenses under this chapter shall be paid.

(a) “Wages” means all remuneration paid for personal services from whatever source, including commissions, bonuses, tips that are both paid to an employee while performing services that constitute employment and included in a written statement furnished by the employee to the emp…

(a) “Week” means the period of seven (7) consecutive days that the commissioner prescribes by regulation. (b) The commissioner may by regulation prescribe that a week shall be deemed to be “in,” “within” or “during” that benefit year that includes the greater part of the week.

“Calendar quarter” means the period of three (3) consecutive calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30 or December 31.

An individual's “weekly benefit amount” means the amount of benefits the individual would be entitled to receive for one (1) week of total unemployment.

(a) “Benefit year” with respect to any individual means the fifty-two (52) consecutive week period beginning with the first day of the first week with respect to which the individual first files a valid claim for benefits, and thereafter the fifty-two (52) consecutive week period…

“Base period” means the first four (4) of the last five (5) completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual's benefit year; provided, that if the first quarter of the last five (5) completed calendar quarters was included in the base period applic…

“Insured work” means employment covered by this chapter.

(a) Payments of Benefits. Benefits shall be payable from the fund in the manner provided by this section. All benefits shall be paid through employment offices in accordance with regulations the commissioner prescribes. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the c…

(a) (1) Personal Eligibility Conditions. An unemployed claimant shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week only if the administrator finds that all of the following conditions are met:(A) The claimant has made a claim for benefits with respect to the week in a…

(a) Disqualifying Events. A claimant shall be disqualified for benefits:(1) (A) (i) If the administrator finds that the claimant has left the claimant's most recent work voluntarily without good cause connected with the claimant's work. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision…

(a) Filing. Claims for benefits shall be made in accordance with regulations the commissioner prescribes. Each employer shall post and maintain, in places readily accessible to individuals performing services for the employer, printed statements concerning benefit rights, claims …

(a) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Eligibility period” of a claimant means the period consisting of the weeks in the claimant's benefit year that begin in an extended benefit period and, if the claimant's benefit year ends within the extended …

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Active seasonal period” means the regularly recurring period of twenty-six (26) consecutive weeks or less within a calendar year as approved by the department in which a seasonal employer customarily carries on all work operations;(2) “Inactive se…

(a) Premiums shall accrue and become payable by each employer for each calendar year in which the employer is subject to this chapter, with respect to wages paid for employment, as defined in § 50-7-207, occurring during the calendar year; provided, that any employer who uses an …

(a) Each employer shall pay premiums equal to five and one-half percent (5.5%) of wages paid by the employer during each calendar year with respect to employment, except as provided in § 50-7-403. (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), effective on and after July 1, 1982, any govern…

(a) Except as provided in [former] § 62-43-113(b)(2)(A)(ii) [repealed] of the Tennessee Employee Leasing Act pertaining to staff leasing companies and the clients of the staff leasing companies, for each twelve-month period beginning July 1, employers shall be classified, in acco…

(a) Interest on Past-Due Premiums. Premiums unpaid on the date on which they are due and payable, as prescribed by the commissioner, shall bear interest at the rate of one percent (1.0%) prior to July 1, 1983, and one and one-half percent (1.5%) thereafter, for each month or any …

(a) Any employing unit that is or becomes an employer subject to this chapter within any calendar year shall be subject to this chapter during the whole of the calendar year. (b) (1) (A) Except as otherwise provided in this section, an employing unit other than one covered under …

The division of employment security shall attempt to develop a system of rating employers that will ensure that an employer who goes out of business and reorganizes as a new business with substantially the same owners shall not be rated as a new employer, but the business shall r…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, if a claimant employed by a reimbursing employer on a continuous part-time basis continues to be employed by the reimbursing employer while separated from other employment and is eligible for benefits, any b…

By January 1, 2013, at the request of the employer, the department shall begin including with an employer's annual premium rate notice the statement of benefits charged to the employer's experience rating account that affected that annual premium rate. The department shall includ…

(a) Establishment and Control. (1) There is established as a special fund, within the state treasury, an unemployment compensation fund, which shall be administered by the administrator of the division of employment security exclusively for the purposes of this chapter. This fund…

(a) (1) There is created in the state treasury a special fund to be known as the unemployment compensation administration fund.(2) All moneys that are deposited or paid into this fund are appropriated and made available to the commissioner.(3) All moneys in this fund shall be exp…

(a) (1) There is created in the state treasury a fund to be known as the “unemployment compensation special administrative fund,” which shall consist of interest collected on delinquent payments pursuant to § 50-7-404(a), the penalty rate payments collected under § 50-7-403(b)(2)…

(a) Benefits shall be deemed to be due and payable under this chapter only to the extent provided in this chapter and to the extent that moneys are available for the benefits to the credit of the unemployment compensation fund, and neither the state nor the commissioner shall be …

(a) In addition to all other premiums due under this chapter, if on any June 1, the fund has utilized during the preceding eight-month period or it has been determined that during the next four-month period ending on September 30, the fund will utilize moneys advanced under 42 U.…

(a) All moneys in the state treasury in funds created by this chapter shall be invested and secured under title 9, chapter 4, parts 1-4 and 6-8; provided, that in the event of any conflict between this section and § 50-7-501(b), § 50-7-501(b) shall control. (b) The state treasure…

(a) There is created and established in the division of employment security a coordinate bureau to be designated as the unemployment compensation bureau. The bureau shall be a separate administrative unit with respect to personnel and budget, except insofar as the commissioner ma…

(a) It is the duty of the administrator to administer this chapter. The commissioner has the power and authority to adopt, amend or rescind rules and regulations, to employ persons, make expenditures, require reports, make investigations, and take other action the commissioner de…

Regulations and rules may be adopted, amended or rescinded by the commissioner as provided in the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5.

The commissioner shall cause to be printed for distribution to the public the text of this chapter, the commissioner's regulations and general rules, the commissioner's annual reports to the governor, to be printed for distribution biennially, and any other material the commissio…

(a) (1) Subject to this chapter, the commissioner is authorized to appoint, fix the compensation and prescribe the duties and powers of officers, accountants, attorneys, experts and other persons necessary in the performance of the commissioner's duties.(2) All positions except t…

(a) The commissioner shall appoint a state unemployment compensation advisory council composed of an equal number of employer representatives and employee representatives who may fairly be regarded as representative because of their vocation, employment or affiliations, and of me…

(1) The commissioner, with the advice and aid of the advisory council, and through the appropriate divisions, shall take all appropriate steps to:(1) Reduce and prevent unemployment;(2) Encourage and assist in the adoption of practical methods of vocational training, retraining a…

(a) (1) The commissioner shall establish and maintain free public employment offices for the Tennessee state employment service in the number and in the places necessary for the proper administration of this chapter, and for the purposes of performing the duties that are within t…

(a) The commissioner of labor and workforce development may appoint an assistant or deputy commissioner for the division of employment security, and may delegate to the person so appointed the responsibility and authority in connection with the administration of this chapter, the…

Any political subdivision of the state may contract for the administration of an unemployment compensation program following the established procedures of the division of employment security required by the terms of this chapter without the necessity of public bidding, as require…

(a) (1) An individual filing a new claim for unemployment compensation shall, at the time of filing the claim, disclose whether or not the individual owes child support obligations as defined under subsection (g).(2) If the individual discloses that the individual owes child supp…

(a) An individual filing a new claim for unemployment compensation shall, at the time of filing the claim, disclose whether or not the individual owes an overissuance, as defined in § 13(c)(1) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. § 2022(c)(1)), of food stamp benefits. The admi…

By July 1, 2012, the department shall implement an internet-based system that allows employers to receive separation notices from the department electronically and to submit separation information electronically to the department. The system shall also have the capability to allo…

(a) (1) (A) Each employing unit shall keep true and accurate work records, for the periods of time and containing the information the commissioner prescribes. The records shall be open to inspection and be subject to being copied by the commissioner or the commissioner's authoriz…

In the discharge of the duties imposed by this part, an unemployment hearing officer, the commissioner, the commissioner’s designee, and any duly authorized representative of any of them shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations, take depositions, certify to official …

In case of contumacy by or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any person, any court of this state within the jurisdiction of which the inquiry is carried on, or within the jurisdiction of which the person guilty of contumacy or refusal to obey is found or resides or transacts b…

No person shall be excused from attending and testifying or from producing books, papers, correspondence, memoranda and other records before the commissioner, an unemployment hearing officer, or any duly authorized representative of any of them, or in obedience to the subpoena of…