(a) The rights and remedies granted to an employee subject to this chapter, on account of personal injury or death by accident, including a minor whether lawfully or unlawfully employed, shall exclude all other rights and remedies of the employee, the employee’s personal representative, dependents or next of kin, at common law or otherwise, on account of the injury or death.
medical exam

Ask a workers compensation law question, get an answer ASAP!
Thousands of highly rated, verified workers compensation lawyers.
Claims, medical treatment, disability payments, termination, and more.
Get help with workers' comp forms, benefits, or employers' responsibilities
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 50-6-108

  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Employee: includes every person, including a minor, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed, the president, any vice president, secretary, treasurer or other executive officer of a corporate employer without regard to the nature of the duties of the corporate officials, in the service of an employer, as employer is defined in subdivision (11), under any contract of hire or apprenticeship, written or implied. See Tennessee Code 50-6-102
  • Employer: includes any individual, firm, association or corporation, the receiver or trustee of the individual, firm, association or corporation, or the legal representative of a deceased employer, using the services of not less than five (5) persons for pay, except as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 50-6-102
  • Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Personal representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) No employer who fails to secure payment of compensation as required by this chapter, shall be permitted to defend the suit upon any of the following grounds, in any suit brought against the employer by an employee covered by this chapter or by the dependent or dependents of the employee, to recover damages for personal injury or death arising from an accident:

(1) The employee was negligent;
(2) The injury was caused by the negligence of a fellow servant or fellow employee; or
(3) The employee had assumed the risk of the injury.
(c) This section shall not be construed to preclude third party indemnity actions against an employer who has expressly contracted to indemnify the third party.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Part 1 Contents