Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-603 (2026)
Rights of professional employees
✓ current as of May 2026
Professional employees have the right to self-organization, to form, join or be assisted by organizations, to participate in collaborative conferencing with local boards of education through representatives of their own choosing and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of other mutual aid and benefit; provided, that professional employees also have the right to refrain from any or all such activities.
Acts 1978, ch. 570, § 7; T.C.A., § 49-5506.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 7
cases, 1996–2019 · leading case: Lawrence Cnty. Educ. Ass'n v. Lawrence Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 244 S.W.3d 302 (Tenn. 2007).
Lawrence Cnty. Educ. Ass'n v. Lawrence Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 244 S.W.3d 302 (Tenn. 2007). “Tennessee Code Annotated section 49-5-603 bestows upon “professional employees” entitlements “to self-organization, to form, join or be assisted by organizations, to negotiate through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the…”
Carter Cnty. Bd. of Educ. v. Carter Cnty. Educ. Ass'n, 56 S.W.3d 1 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1996). “Defendant-Appellant Carter County Educational *2 Association (Association) represents the professional employees of the Board of Education pursuant to TCA § 49-5-603. The Board and the Association entered into a collective bargaining agreement in June, 1992, effective from July…”
Blount Cnty. Educ. Ass'n v. Blount Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 78 S.W.3d 307 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2002). “Tenn.Code Ann. § 49-5-601(b)(3). Generally speaking, professional employees who fall within the coverage of the Act are given the right to self-organize (Tenn.”
Union Cnty. Educ. Ass'n v. Union Cnty. Bd. of Educ. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014). “The Association brought this action alleging that the Union County Board of Education (“the Board”), acting through its agents, violated the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act of 2011 (“the Collaborative Conferencing Act”), Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-603 (2013),…”
Hamilton Cnty. Educ. Ass'n v. Hamilton Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 112 F. Supp. 3d 716 (E.D. Tenn. 2015). “The Tennessee legislature patterned several sections of the EPNA after the NLRA and Tennessee courts have interpreted some of these provisions with reference to their NLRA analogues. See, e.g., Union Cnty.”
Washington Cnty. Educ. Ass'n v. Washington Cnty. Bd. of Educ. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2019). “]” Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-603 (2016). According to plaintiffs, “[t]he act of seeking a declaratory judgment regarding important employment-related rights of professional employees is a concerted activity [within the meaning of the PECCA].”
Cannon Cnty. Bd. of Educ. v. Goldy Wade & Cannon Cnty. Educ. Ass'n (Tenn. Ct. App. 2008). “Additionally, since our earlier opinion in this case, the T ennessee Supreme Court has found that the EPNA authorizes negotiations on behalf of “professional employees” and only such “professional employees,” as defined in Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-603 (11), are entitled to any…”
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