Employee Misclassification Advisory Council (EMAC) Meeting

The Tennessee Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) would like you invite you to a Misclassification Update for the Employee Misclassification Advisory Council (EMAC) from the Bureau’s Compliance Unit. This meeting will be held in the Bureau’s large conference room located at 220 French Landing Drive, Suite 1B, Nashville, TN 37243. Virtual attendance will also be available by Teams or phone. We look forward to seeing you there.

To join via Microsoft Teams, click here to join the meeting.
Meeting ID: 270 165 872 489  |  Passcode: 7JKu3f

Or you can call in, dial: 1 (629) 209-4396, then use the conference ID number: 550 814 502#

The audio recording of this public meeting may be made available on our website.

Meeting Audio Recording

Download Audio Recording

Agenda

• Welcome & Introductions – Troy Haley
• Legislative Updates – Amanda Terry
• Compliance/Misclassification Updates – Claudia Byers
  • Exemption Registry
• Questions/Discussion

Meeting Summary

• Amanda Terry provided a legislative update on three bills:
  • House Bill 1694 and Senate Bill 2094 (Workers’ Comp Admin Bill).
  • House Bill 2306 and Senate Bill 2909 (Self-Insured Pool).
  • House Bill 1887 and Senate Bill 2083 (Military Bill). 
• Claudia Byers provided a compliance program update.
  • The Bureau's compliance program is now fully staffed with 10 investigators.
  • They are actively investigating misclassification and mentioned a new US Department of Labor test is coming out very soon to determine if someone is an independent contractor or not.
  • A recent court case (Kimberly Hunt vs. Steve Kirk and Plaza Insurance) is helpful for determining employee vs independent contractor status.
  • One of the biggest challenges they are facing is that many non-construction businesses are requesting workers' compensation exemptions even though the exemption registry does not apply to non-construction businesses.