• Employees in Tennessee have certain rights if their employers lay them off.employ??e de bureau t??l??phonant image by Ludovic LAN from Fotolia.com
  
  Tennessee workers who suffer job layoffs have certain protections under state labor laws. The state requires employees to receive a certain amount of notice if they are part of large-scale layoffs, and also sets forth the guidelines by which employees may receive unemployment benefits. The protections may not apply to employees who quit voluntarily or whose employer fires them with cause.
  
  

Mass Layoffs

• In compliance with federal law, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, a Tennessee employer must provide written notice to employees and the state at least 60 days before laying off 50 or more workers. A rapid response team, which consists of representatives from the Tennessee Career Center System and other agencies, helps workers cope with their pending unemployment. State workers help laid-off workers search for new jobs or train for new careers. No law applies to layoffs that involve fewer than 50 workers, although the state strongly encourages employers to provide as much notice as possible.
  
  

Final Paycheck

• After a layoff, employees must receive their full wages at the next scheduled payday, no later than three weeks from the date of the layoff. If an employer misses this deadline, the employee may file a claim with the state's Labor Standards Division.
  
  

Accrued Vacation Time

• After a layoff, a Tennessee employee does not have a legal right to receive monetary compensation for vacation time that he has accrued but has not used. Only company policy or employee contracts may dictate that workers receive pay for unused vacation time.
  
  

Applying for Unemployment Benefits

• Employees who lose work through no fault of their own have the right to receive unemployment compensation. A condition for receiving unemployment benefits is the willingness and ability to accept work if a suitable offer materializes. After filing for unemployment benefits, an employee must wait one week before receiving payments. The employee will receive a retroactive payment for that week by remaining eligible for three consecutive weeks after the waiting week.
  
  

Receiving Unemployment Benefits

• Tennessee pays out no more than $275 a week to an unemployed worker after a layoff. The worker may find a part-time job that pays up to 25 percent of his weekly benefit amount while continuing to collect his full unemployment benefits. Any earnings greater than 25 percent will reduce the benefit amount. Any part-time earnings that exceed the total benefit amount will suspend the unemployment claim, and the employee will have to re-open the claim to receive future benefits.