Tennessee Enacts Private Employer Veterans Preference Law
April 03, 2017
Tennessee has enacted a law allowing private employers to give hiring preference to honorably discharged veterans, spouses of a veteran with a service-connected disability, unremarried widows or widowers of a veteran who died of a service- connected disability, and unremarried widows or widowers of a member of the military who died in the line of duty.
A private employer adopting a veterans’ preference must have the policy in writing and may require submission of a certificate of release or discharge from active duty, Department of Defense Form 214 (DD 214), as proof of eligibility for the veterans’ preference employment policy.
A policy as described just above must be applied uniformly to employment decisions regarding hiring and promotion.
The preferences authorized by the new law are not considered violations of any state or local equal employment opportunity law, and no private employer is required to provide such preference in hiring.
