On October 30, 2021, the Tennessee General Assembly passed an omnibus bill, HB9077, dealing with discrimination based on vaccination status for COVID-19 among other things. Governor Bill Lee signed this into law on November 12th.
The discrimination part of the bill is quite simple. TCA § 14-2-102(a) reads:
“A private business, governmental entity, school, or local education agency shall not compel or otherwise take an adverse action against a person to compel the person to provide proof of vaccination if the person objects to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine for any reason.”
Even with the law on the books, employers across the state are continuing to violate the law claiming that they have a right to formulate their own policies and practices and are taking a dangerously narrow approach to consider the meaning of taking an “adverse action against a person.”
So, what is an “adverse action,” exactly. TCA § 14-1-101 explains it this way:
(A) Discriminate against a person by denying the person employment, privileges, credit, insurance, access, products, services, or other benefits; or
(B) Discharge, threaten, or otherwise discriminate against an employee in any manner that affects the employee’s employment, including compensation, terms, conditions, locations, rights, immunities, promotions, or privileges;
Quite simply (specifically in regard to COVID-19 per the law), to treat an unvaccinated person any differently from a vaccinated person should be considered discrimination by any reasonable interpretation of this law. But that sentiment doesn’t seem to be taking root in the minds of the tyrants.
And this continued disregard is a bit confusing, frankly, because the law goes further into helping clarify its intent, which is to preserve liberty to the individual. TCA §14-1-103 states:
“The purpose of this title is to safeguard the constitutional rights and liberty interests of persons during the COVID-19 pandemic. This title must be construed broadly to effectuate the purpose described in this section.” (emphasis added)
With that in mind, it should be clear that by any interpretation of the law, the individual’s rights should be held in the highest regard, and one should tread carefully as to possible discrimination and not to infringe on those rights. But apparently, even our own government including Governor Bill Lee’s administration cannot seem to wrap their minds around the need to preserve the rights of individuals per the law.
Enter, the TN Department of Health headed up by Commissioner Lisa Piercey and Dickson County Schools.
Aside from employers, we are now dealing with school districts who are discriminating against students who are unvaccinated (or in other words, healthy), per contact tracing and quarantining procedures. Through social media, we were notified that Dickson County Schools has a policy in place that students believed to have been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 had to quarantine and stay home from school, only if they were unvaccinated. This policy was confirmed in an email from the Director of Schools, Danny Weeks.
We helped parents to inform the school district that this was explicitly against the law per the omnibus bill passed in last year’s special session. To our surprise, the response was that their policy was based on guidelines put out by the TN Department of Health. How can this be? How can a government agency in Tennessee issue guidance to a local school district that does not comply with state law?
So, here is the official guidance from the TN Dept of Health.
The lawlessness and ineptitude of the Bill Lee administration are unceasing.
On October 30, 2021, the Tennessee General Assembly passed an omnibus bill, HB9077, dealing with discrimination based on vaccination status for COVID-19 among other things. Governor Bill Lee signed this into law on November 12th.
The discrimination part of the bill is quite simple. TCA § 14-2-102(a) reads:
Even with the law on the books, employers across the state are continuing to violate the law claiming that they have a right to formulate their own policies and practices and are taking a dangerously narrow approach to consider the meaning of taking an “adverse action against a person.”
So, what is an “adverse action,” exactly. TCA § 14-1-101 explains it this way:
Quite simply (specifically in regard to COVID-19 per the law), to treat an unvaccinated person any differently from a vaccinated person should be considered discrimination by any reasonable interpretation of this law. But that sentiment doesn’t seem to be taking root in the minds of the tyrants.
And this continued disregard is a bit confusing, frankly, because the law goes further into helping clarify its intent, which is to preserve liberty to the individual. TCA §14-1-103 states:
With that in mind, it should be clear that by any interpretation of the law, the individual’s rights should be held in the highest regard, and one should tread carefully as to possible discrimination and not to infringe on those rights. But apparently, even our own government including Governor Bill Lee’s administration cannot seem to wrap their minds around the need to preserve the rights of individuals per the law.
Enter, the TN Department of Health headed up by Commissioner Lisa Piercey and Dickson County Schools.
Aside from employers, we are now dealing with school districts who are discriminating against students who are unvaccinated (or in other words, healthy), per contact tracing and quarantining procedures. Through social media, we were notified that Dickson County Schools has a policy in place that students believed to have been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 had to quarantine and stay home from school, only if they were unvaccinated. This policy was confirmed in an email from the Director of Schools, Danny Weeks.
We helped parents to inform the school district that this was explicitly against the law per the omnibus bill passed in last year’s special session. To our surprise, the response was that their policy was based on guidelines put out by the TN Department of Health. How can this be? How can a government agency in Tennessee issue guidance to a local school district that does not comply with state law?
So, here is the official guidance from the TN Dept of Health.
You can see clearly that there is one set of rules for individuals who are vaccinated and another set of rules for everyone else. And to make matters worse when it comes to K-12, the TN Department of Health continues to suggest current CDC guidelines, even though the CDC guidelines violate state law per Title 14.
Not only does the CDC suggest quarantine protocols based on vaccination status which is discriminatory in the state of Tennessee per Title 14, but the CDC also suggests masking for students. Masking in our schools is also illegal per Title 14 when not in a declared state of emergency.
What is happening right now in Dickson County Schools and other school districts across the state is discriminatory and illegal. The guidance being issued by Commissioner Lisa Piercey and the TN Department of Health is discriminatory and illegal. The actions of leadership in the administration under the direction of Governor Bill Lee are discriminatory and illegal.
So, here is how you fix this. Leadership.
We call on Governor Bill Lee to issue a public statement that Title 14 is the law of this state and discrimination based on vaccination status for COVID-19 should come to a grinding halt in the state of Tennessee. He should also direct state agencies to comply with the law immediately.
Otherwise, there are other legal and appropriate actions that can be taken.
Fix it.
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Gary Humble
Gary Humble