TEAM Act - Veterans

The Tennessee Excellence Accountability and Management (TEAM) Act went into law April 24, 2012. The TEAM Act calls for two divisions of state service: preferred service and executive service. Executive service employees remain "at-will" as they currently serve. Preferred service replaces the traditional "career service" designation and preserves as a streamlined appeals process along with other considerations.

• Veterans shall receive interview preferences for both appointments and promotions, and if there are two candidates with equal qualifications, knowledge, skills, etc., hiring preference will be given to the Veteran.
• Eligible spouses of Veterans will also be guaranteed an interview for positions that meet their qualifications if the spouse or surviving spouse is a qualified voter in Tennessee or has been a Tennessee resident for more than 2 years preceding such person's application and one of the two following circumstances exist; 
• As a result of such military service, the Veteran suffered a one hundred percent (100%) service-connected disability or is permanently and to-tally disabled; or
• The Veteran died in the line of duty during such military service; and
• The surviving spouse has not remarried since the death of the Veteran.
• Additionally, if a supervisor passes over an eligible veteran and selects a non-veteran for a position, they must record their reasons in writing. The record will be made available for the veteran to view.
• In the event of layoffs, veterans will continue to receive 60 months of credit toward their time of service to be factored into the process.
• Amends TCA 8 relative to state employees