State Employees

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's effective date is January 1, 2027, as amended by House Bill 957.

Paid Leave for State Employees

This bill adds six weeks of paid leave for state employees who become foster parents or need to care for family members with serious health conditions.

What This Bill Does

• Adds six weeks of paid leave for state employees who become foster parents of minor children, similar to existing provisions for birth and adoption leaves.
• Requires foster parent employees to give at least 30 days' notice before taking the leave or as soon as possible if circumstances do not allow.
• Limits eligible employees to no more than six weeks of paid leave during a 12-month period, regardless of multiple qualifying events like births, adoptions, or foster placements.
• Allows employees to use any remaining balance of their leave for subsequent qualifying events within the same 12-month period if they do not fully use it initially.
• Clarifies that eligible employees can take the leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule as allowed by federal law.

Who It Names or Affects

• State employees who have been employed full-time for at least one year with certain state entities.
• Foster parents and other employees needing to care for family members with serious health conditions.

Terms To Know

Eligible employee

An employee who has worked full-time for the state for at least one year in specific entities as defined by law.

Foster parent

A person with whom a child is placed for foster care by the Department of Children's Services, excluding placements for respite or adoption purposes.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill limits employees to six weeks of paid leave during any 12-month period, even if there are multiple qualifying events.
• It does not specify how the remaining balance of unused leave can be used beyond the initial 12-month period.

Official Summary Text

FOSTER PARENT LEAVE

In addition to annual leave, sick leave, and leave for adoptive parents,
present law requires that an eligible employee be granted absence from work with pay for six workweeks because of (i) the birth of the employee's child or (ii) the placement of a child with the employee for adoption. The employee must give 30-days' notic
e to the appropriate appointing authority. If the eligible employee learns of the birth or adoption less than 30 days in advance, the employee must give notice as soon as reasonably possible. This bill adds as an eligible recipient of such paid leave an
e
mployee who becomes the foster parent of a minor child. A foster-parent employee must also give 30-days' notice. However, an employee who becomes the foster parent of a minor child must not continue to utilize leave once the minor child is no longer pla
ced in the foster parent's home or custody. For the purposes of this bill, a foster parent does not include an employee with whom a child is placed for the purpose of adoption.

ONE-YEAR PERIOD

Present law prohibits an eligible employee from being granted more than six workweeks of paid leave during a 12-month period. However, the workweeks do not need to be taken consecutively. An eligible employee may not receive more than six workweeks dur
ing a 12-month period, even if there is more than one qualifying birth or adoption. Granted leave must be used within 12 months of the qualifying birth or adoption. This bill adds that eligible foster parents must also comply with these provisions. Thi
s
bill further provides that if an eligible employee uses only a fraction of the leave, then the eligible employee may use the remaining balance of leave for any qualifying birth, adoption, or foster placement that occurs within the same 12-month period.

ON FEBRUARY 23, 2026, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 957, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #2 makes the following changes:



Clarifies that any leave granted to an employee pursuant to this bill may be taken on a reduced schedule or intermittently as provided by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.



Adds that an eligible employee must be granted absence from work with pay for a period of time equal to six workweeks because the employee is caring for a family member with a serious health condition, and upon the employee giving 30-days' notice to the appropriate appointing authority. If the eligible employee learns of the family member's serious health condition less than 30 days in advance, then the employee must give the notice as soon as reasonably possible.



Clarifies that an employee may receive no more than six workweeks of paid leave, even if there is more than one qualifying birth, adoption, foster placement, or family member's serious health condition.



Revises the definition of "foster parent" to mean a person with whom a child in the care, custody, or guardianship of the department of children's services is placed for foster care. However, the term does not include a person with whom a child is placed for the purposes of respite or adoption.



C
hanges the effective date of the bill from effective upon becoming a law to January 1, 2027.

Current Bill Text

HOUSE BILL 957
By Slater

SENATE BILL 938
By Rose

SB0938
002919
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8,
Chapter 50, Part 8, relative to leave for state
employees.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 8-50-813(a), is amended by deleting
the subsection and substituting:
(a)
(1) In addition to leave granted under §§ 8-50-801, 8-50-802, and 8-50-
806, an eligible employee must be granted absence from work with pay for a
period of time equal to six (6) workweeks because of the birth of the employee's
child, because of the placement of a child with the employee for adoption, or
because the employee becomes the foster parent of a minor child, and upon the
employee giving thirty-days' notice to the appropriate appointing authority. If the
eligible employee learns of the birth, adoption, or foster placement less than thirty
(30) days in advance, the employee shall give the notice as soon as reasonably
possible. For the purpose of calculating service anniversary dates, this absence
from work is considered full-time employment.
(2) An employee who becomes the foster parent of a minor child must
not continue to utilize leave granted under this subsection (a) once the minor
child is no longer placed in the foster parent's home or custody.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 8-50-813, is amended by deleting
subsections (d) and (e) and substituting:

- 2 - 002919

(d) An eligible employee must not be granted more than six (6) workweeks of
paid leave under subsection (a) during a twelve-month period, but the workweeks do not
need to be taken consecutively. An eligible employee may receive no more than six (6)
workweeks of paid leave during a twelve-month period, even if there is more than one
(1) qualifying birth, adoption, or foster placement under subsection (a). If an eligible
employee uses only a fraction of the leave granted under subsection (a), then the
eligible employee may use the remaining balance of leave for any qualifying birth,
adoption, or foster placement that occurs within the same twelve-month period. Leave
granted pursuant to this section must be used within twelve (12) months of the qualifying
birth, adoption, or initial foster placement.
(e) As used in this section:
(1) "Eligible employee" means:
(A) An employee who has been employed full-time with the state
for at least twelve (12) consecutive months with an entity described in §§
8-30-102(a), 8-30-102(b)(2), 8-30-102(b)(6)-(7), and 8-30-102(b)(10)-(13);
or
(B) An employee who has been employed full-time with the state
for at least twelve (12) consecutive months with an entity described in §
8-30-102(b)(9), except for an employee of any administrative board or
commission that is attached to an entity described in § 8-30-102(b)(1) or
§ 8-30-102(b)(3)-(5); and
(2) "Foster parent" has the same meaning as defined in § 37-2-414
(a)(2).
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.