Defeated nearly a dozen expensive health care mandates
Defeated nearly a dozen expensive health care mandates
Each year, legislators introduce well intended but harmful healthcare mandates. Each year, we work hard to remind our elected officials that more mandates drive up insurance costs and force more small business owners, their employees and their families to give up coverage.
Passed an unemployment misconduct bill, making employee fraud a felony
Our members have recognized the unemployment system has tilted against the employer. We helped pass a bill defining unemployment misconduct and establishing employee fraud in unemployment as a felony. We expect this will keep costs down for employers who prepare well for unemployment hearings.
Defeated mandated calorie counts on menus
We helped defeat a statewide mandate for calorie counts on menus that would have impacted many of our members that serve food. We also helped pass a bill that stops unelected boards of health from having this authority.
Passed bill exempting small and mid-sized signs from requiring an engineer’s stamp
A state board aggressively attempted to mandate that all signs required a costly engineer’s seal. Working with several NFIB members, we found a commonsense solution that adopts a statewide standard only for very large signs while exempting small and mid-sized signs, saving small employers as much as $800 for each sign.
Passed workers’ compensation bills protecting employers who make recreational opportunities available and re-enabling their right to communicate with a treating physician
Two recent Tennessee Supreme Court decisions related to workers’ compensation were detrimental to small business. We worked on your behalf to pass laws that excluded from coverage any injuries that occur during recreational activities that are not required by or directly benefit the employer. Another good bill overturned a decision that prohibited communication between a treating physician and an employer and employee.
Established that construction sole proprietors and LLC partners in supervisory, managerial or superintendent roles will receive a new workers’ comp classification code
The Tennessee General Assembly passed a sweeping law, set to take effect Jan. 1, 2010, that requires all construction subcontractors to purchase workers’ comp policies for themselves and their workers. Public Chapter 1041 unfortunately captured sole proprietors and LLC officers who do not have the same risk profile as their workers. We worked to ensure these leaders will have their own classification code, which will save them thousands of dollars and in some cases more than $10,000, and to ensure any office manager will only be required to purchase workers’ comp under the appropriate clerical code.
Defeated several job-killing mandates, including a costly state minimum wage
Some legislators continue to believe small businesses have bottomless piles of cash to address perceived inequities, while others distrust market forces. We continue to work on your behalf to show how damaging minimum wage mandates, pay-equity proposals, and paid sick and vacation leave can have on free enterprise.
