Amicus Win for RKRB Partner

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         DRI member Dale Conder Jr. of Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell, PLC in Jackson, Tennessee, and Memphis, Tennessee, successfully represented the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association as amicus curiae in a case regarding whether an applicant who is not hired because she filed a workers’ comp action against a previous employer has a retaliatory-failure-to-hire cause of action. The Tennessee Supreme Court held that Tennessee does not recognize a cause of action when a prospective employer refuses to hire an applicant under these circumstances.

            In Yardley v. Hospital Housekeeping Systems, LLC, Ms. Yardley filed a workers’ compensation action against her employer, University Medical Center in Lebanon. Before the doctor released her to full-duty work the hospital contracted with Hospital Housekeeping Systems, LLC to perform the hospital’s cleaning services. This company agreed to interview the hospital’s housekeeping staff and had the option of hiring any of the employees. When the doctor released Ms. Yardley to full-duty work, she applied with the housekeeping company. The company did not hire her, in part, because of her workers’ compensation claim against her former employer. Ms. Yardley sued in federal court for, among other things, retaliatory failure to hire. The federal district court asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to decide whether Tennessee recognizes a retaliatory-failure-to-hire cause of action.

            The company and the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association as amicus curiae argued that because Tennessee is an employment-at-will state and the legislature had not created such a cause of action, the Court should not create one. The Tennessee Supreme Court agreed with the company and the TDLA and declined to recognize a retaliatory-failure-to-hire cause of action in these circumstances. This helps preserve Tennessee’s status as an employment-at-will state.

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