Early in July, employment lawyer Alan Crone appeared on WMC Action News 5’s digital desk to talk about the elimination of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. The elimination is very important for the statute of limitations in discrimination cases. We have the video and transcription below.
Transcription:
Andrew Douglas
Good morning. Welcome back to the Action News five digital desk on Tuesday, July 1, there’s going to be a change when it comes to Tennessee law. The Tennessee Human Rights Commission will be eliminated, and with it, the extension of a 300 day statute of limitations for filing unemployment discrimination claims. So after July 1, okay, that’s Tuesday, Tennesseans must now solely turn to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and that has a much shorter 180 day deadline. Let’s talk a little bit about this, how it will affect Tennesseans and people in our area. I’m joined right now by Memphis attorney Alan Crone, he specializes in employment law, other things, joining us on the action. News five, digital desk. Alan, what does this change mean to you from your perspective? Good morning.
Alan Crone
Good morning. It’s great to be here. Thank you for having me. Yeah, this is, this is kind of a double edged sword for for everybody. The most important thing is that everybody understand the change and be prepared for it. Now, what it what it actually means is, this year, the General Assembly eliminated, disbanded, the Tennessee Human Rights Act. I mean the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, which is tasked with enforcing the Tennessee Human Rights Act, and before July 1. Currently, if you want to file a discrimination claim, you have 300 days to do it, and you can either file with the EEOC or you can file with the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. And because we have that, they call it dual filing capability in Tennessee, that that extends the statute from 180 days to 300 days to file that claim of discrimination. So and that’s from the date of the discrimination or harassment or retaliation, or whatever it is that that you’re complaining of.
And so it’s going to make it more and more important for workers to go to the EEOC as soon as possible, because that 180 day kicker could be started, and it may not be when you think, in other words, if they tell you you’re going to get fired on a Monday, effective two weeks later, the statute starts to run when they tell you you’re going to get fired, As opposed to two weeks later, and with the 300 days that didn’t come into play very often, but 180 days is not that long to kind of decide what to do. So that’s the biggest, the biggest change, and it’s going to put more pressure on the EEOC, because now all the charges in Tennessee are going to go to hit. The Attorney General is forming a group within his office in Nashville to enforce the Tennessee Human Rights Act that was all the functions of the commission were transferred to the Attorney General. Now what that means in terms of, you know what, what you can file, and how, I don’t know that all that has been worked out yet, but that’s the that’s the ram of that’s the effect writ large.
Andrew Douglas
Okay, okay. And so what happens if you miss this 100 day deadline? So this goes into effect July 1. That’s Tuesday. What happens if someone misses this deadline? Does it? Do they not have any kind of repercussions at all?
Alan Crone
Under federal law, you’re done under state law, you can still file in court under the Tennessee Human Rights Act Up to a year from the date of discrimination.
Andrew Douglas
Okay, and can you talk a little bit about the topics as a whole, when it comes under this umbrella as workplace discrimination?
Alan Crone
Well, that’s a pretty wide category, but I mean, basically, it’s anything that adverse employment action arising out of a protected activity or a protected category. There’s lots of harassment and discrimination. It’s perfectly legal because it’s not based on whether, on your color, your sex, your religion, those sorts of things, or engaging in family medical act leave or reporting discrimination or reporting unsafe working conditions, or refusing to participate in or remain silent about. Legal activities. So if, if you’ve had something that that has happened to you, and you believe this because of your, you know, inclusion in protected category or protected activities, then you should do something. You should, first of all, if you’ve got an HR, you know, department in your company, you should, you should start there. You should complain to somebody in management if you if you don’t have a clearly defined process, some people are uncomfortable doing that. You might want to consult with an employment lawyer to see if what’s happening to you is illegal, as opposed to just unfair or bad business. And you know, companies should continue to do whatever they’re doing to prevent this, this type of activity.
Andrew Douglas
I appreciate you saying that that was you answered my question. There anything else you’d like to add with regards to what workers need to know about these changes and what they should be doing, maybe before the deadline or perhaps after.
Alan Crone
I would say, if someone thinks they have a claim right now and it happened more than six months ago, then they should be safe rather than sorry. They should go ahead and file. I believe that anything that happens before on or before June 30 is covered by the 300 day statute. I don’t think, I don’t think the legislature can take away a right retrospectively like that, but that’s just my opinion. My opinion is worth, you know what you’re paying for it right now? Yeah. So I would, if you have a claim that exists now, I and you really think you’re going to pursue it, then I would go to the EEOC today or Monday and file just to make sure that you’re that you’re, you know, protecting yourself.
Andrew Douglas
Okay. Alan Crone, really appreciate this deep dive into this important move here that’s happening on Tuesday, July 1, Tennessee Human Rights Commission to be eliminated then, and what to do after that. We appreciate your time on the digital desk. Thank you for giving us some insight on next steps after all of that, thank you.
Alan Crone
Hey, it’s my pleasure, and I appreciate it, and I’ll see everybody around campus.
Andrew Douglas
Okay.