Tennessee House Bill HB1398

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/6/25
• Refer: 2/12/25
• Failed: 2/11/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8, Chapter 50, relative to bereavement leave.

Summary

HB1398 would amend Tennessee’s state employee bereavement leave law to expand and clarify paid leave available to officers and employees of state government agencies, boards, and departments. Under the bill, eligible state employees would receive three paid days of leave for the death of a spouse, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, stepparent, foster parent, or parent-in-law. The bill also creates a much larger leave benefit—three months of paid leave—when an employee’s child or stepchild dies. The measure amends Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8, Chapter 50, Section 8-50-113, and would take effect July 1, 2025. Its practical effect is to establish a more generous and specific statewide bereavement leave policy for public employees, with the most significant change being the extended paid leave period for the death of a child or stepchild. The bill applies to state government personnel rather than private-sector workers or local government employees, unless separately adopted elsewhere.

Impact

HB1398 would directly change Tennessee’s state employee leave statute by replacing the existing bereavement leave subsection in T.C.A. § 8-50-113. It expands the list of covered family relationships and sets fixed paid leave entitlements, including an unusually long three-month paid leave period for the death of a child or stepchild. The bill would affect state agencies, boards, departments, and their officers and employees by requiring paid leave without charging the leave to accumulated leave balances.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests the bill did not advance in committee, as it failed in the House Public Service Subcommittee by a 1-4 vote. No committee transcript is available, so there is no recorded floor or committee debate to show broader support or opposition. Based on the vote outcome alone, the sentiment appears to have been unfavorable or at least insufficiently supportive among the subcommittee members.

Contention

The main point of potential contention is the scope and cost of the benefit, especially the proposal to provide three months of paid leave for the death of a child or stepchild. That level of paid leave is substantially more generous than typical bereavement policies and could raise concerns about administrative burden, fiscal impact, and precedent for state employment benefits. Supporters would likely view the bill as a humane workplace policy for grieving employees, while opponents may have viewed it as too expansive or costly for state government to absorb.