Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-710 (2026)

• (a)
  • (1) The time allowed for sick leave within the meaning of this section for any teacher shall be one (1) day for each month employed plus any personal and professional leave transferred to sick leave. Sick leave shall be cumulative for all earned or transferred days not used.
  • (2) Any teacher who goes on maternity or paternity leave may use sick leave and annual leave, as described by § 8-50-801, for maternity or paternity leave for a period not to exceed the teacher's accumulated sick leave and annual leave balance, or twelve (12) weeks, whichever is less. To be eligible to use sick leave as maternity or paternity leave, the teacher must submit a written request that includes a statement from the attending physician indicating the expected date of confinement, no later than the end of the fifth month of pregnancy. Upon verification by a written statement from an adoption agency or other entity handling an adoption, a teacher may be allowed to use up to thirty (30) days of accumulated sick leave for the adoption of a child. If both adoptive parents are teachers, only one (1) parent is entitled to use leave under this subsection (a).
  • (3) When first employed in a system, a teacher shall be allowed an initial allotment of up to five (5) days of sick leave, but not exceeding the number the teacher could earn during the school year in which the teacher is first employed. If a teacher uses a part or all of this initial allotment, these days shall be charged to sick leave later accumulated by the same teacher.
  • (4) At the termination of the employment of any teacher, all unused sick leave accumulated by the teacher shall be terminated.
  • (5) However, a local board of education shall grant to any teacher, upon the teacher's employment or reemployment, the accumulated sick leave that the teacher lost by previous termination of employment in a public school system of this state; except that a teacher terminated for cause, as defined in § 49-5-501, shall not be granted, upon further employment, the sick leave days lost; and except that a teacher who breaks a contract with the board of education without a justifiable reason and without giving at least thirty (30) days' advance notice shall be granted previously accumulated, unused leave only if the board whose employ the teacher left permits the teacher to resign in good standing under the terms of § 49-5-508. This grant of previously accumulated, unused sick leave days shall be made only upon application of the teacher and only upon written verification notarized by the director of schools of the system in which the accumulated sick leave was held. The grant of previously accumulated, unused sick leave days provided for under this subdivision (a)(5) shall be available to any teacher and state employee.
  • (6) Every local board of education shall keep a record of the accumulated sick leave for each eligible teacher in its employ and shall provide a verified copy to the teacher or other board of education for purposes of implementing this section.
  • (7) The local board of education may require that a physician's certificate be furnished by the teacher in all cases deemed proper by the local board.
  • (8) In case of doubt, the local board of education shall have final authority as to who is entitled to leave under this section and the time for which the leave may be allowed.
  • (9) A teacher in need of sick leave shall be allowed to use unearned sick leave up to the amount of days that the teacher may accumulate during the remainder of the school year in which the teacher is employed. Such advance use of sick leave shall be charged to sick leave accumulated in the same school year. Upon termination of the employment of the teacher before the days are earned or at the end of the school year, there shall be deducted from the final salary of the teacher an amount based on the teacher's daily rate of pay sufficient to cover the excess sick leave days used by the teacher, and if the final salary is insufficient for this purpose, the teacher shall be liable for reimbursement of any amount in excess of the teacher's final salary.

• (b) Any person employed by any agency, office, department or institution of the state or any state college or university, and who participates in the sick leave program provided in title 8, chapter 50, part 8, who leaves such employment and within two (2) years becomes a teacher employed by any local board of education, shall be allowed to convert all accumulated state sick leave into sick leave under this section. Any person may waive such conversion by notice to the authority responsible for the person's appointment. The previous employer shall certify to the new employer that the sick leave for which credit is being sought actually is accrued and due and is substantiated by records of the agency compiled during the course of such employment and not from records compiled solely for purposes of establishing leave credit. The conversion of sick leave under this subsection (b) shall be available to any employee who has transferred employment from any state agency named in this subsection (b) to any local school system.

Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 248, s 48, eff. 5/2/2019.

Acts 1955, ch. 136, § 18; 1957, ch. 75, § 1; 1959, ch. 93, § 1; 1967, ch. 396, § 1; 1968, ch. 420, §§ 1, 2; 1971, ch. 128, § 1; 1971, ch. 421, § 1; 1973, ch. 2, § 1; 1974, ch. 488, § 1; 1975, ch. 46, §§ 1, 2; 1975, ch. 100, § 2; 1977, ch. 364, § 2; 1978, ch. 557, § 2; 1979, ch. 78, § 1; 1980, ch. 544, § 1; 1980, ch. 567, § 1; 1981, ch. 282, §§ 1, 2; 1982, ch. 674, §§ 3, 4; T.C.A., § 49-1314(c); Acts 1984, ch. 657, § 1; 1986, ch. 850, § 3; 1989, ch. 184, § 1; 1998, ch. 617, § 1.