Opinion ID: 1672315
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Meaning of Employment Status

Text: Our decision that the City's OJI Panel fits within the civil service board language of section 27-9-114 does not end our inquiry. We must also determine whether decisions of the OJI Panel affect the employment status of workers who come before it. The City argues that its OJI Panel does not affect the employment status of city workers. We disagree. Like the phrase civil service board, the phrase employment status is not defined in section 27-9-114. In addition, unlike the phrase civil service board, there are no other statutes that offer insight into the meaning of employment status. However, at the time of the amendment to section 27-9-114, there was a judicial definition of employment status for purposes of section 27-9-114. Under the case law existing at the time of the statute's revision, employment status encompassed the entire legal relation of the employee to the employer. Love v. Ret. Sys. of the City of Memphis, 1987 WL 17246 at  (Tenn.Ct.App. Sept.21, 1987). [9] Significantly, the legislature altered the statute and chose to revise most of the statute except the term employment status. Because the legislature chose to leave that term unaltered in the amended statute, we see no reason to alter that definition ourselves. Based upon the foregoing discussion, we find that decisions rendered by the OJI Panel affect the employment status of workers who come before it after having their claim for benefits denied. The OJI Panel conducts a hearing and issues a final decision for the City on whether an illness or injury is work-related and, therefore, compensable. As a direct result of this adjudicatory task, an employee's income may remain the same, be reduced, or be eliminated. Indeed, an employee could be terminated if the employee can no longer perform his or her duties. Thus, we conclude that the trial court correctly found that decisions rendered by the OJI Panel in this case affected the employment status of the plaintiffs.