Leaders from the business and labor communities received important updates last month at a recent Unemployment Compensation Advisory Council meeting in Nashville. 

The new benefits system (IRIS) that pays unemployment insurance (UI) claimants is functioning well. State agencies are required to pay claimants in 21 days or less at an 87.5% rate. Tennessee is now regularly meeting this metric. Employers also will see a new tax system in place by May 27, 2025, another upgrade from bulkier technologies. 

After flooding from Hurricane Helene in East Tennessee, 2,345 claimants filed under disaster unemployment assistance (DUA). Of these, about 300 were found to be fraudulent or faulty. Regulators credit the new system for identifying many of these attempts. 

NFIB asked the Employment Security Division at the Department of Labor & Workforce Development to review the 60-page UI Employer Handbook, which was last updated in 2019. Many changes have occurred in Tennessee law since then. One of those is the new shared work program, which has yet to be utilized by Tennessee employers but has been successful in other states in retaining workers during slow economic periods at businesses or in general. NFIB encouraged improvements to this landing page and pledged to get out the word to small businesses soon thereafter. 

The state’s unemployment rate increased in 17 of 95 counties in October. Tennessee’s overall seasonally adjusted rate was 3.3%. The highest jobless rates were in Weakley (6%), Unicoi (5.6%) and Lake (5.6%) counties. The lowest rate of 2.6% was shared by Sevier, Moore and Williamson counties. 

The unemployment trust fund, which employers fund through UI taxes, remains relatively strong with a balance of $1.4 billion. 

Read Tennessee Unemployment FAQ’s here and more about Employer Resources here.