FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 7, 2015
Contact: Rep. Antonio Parkinson
(901) 570-5810

State Agency Runs Afoul of the Law

Today in the House Government Operations Committee, Representative Antonio Parkinson spoke out about the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations’ (TACIR) deliberate refusal to obey the law set forth in the Healthy Workplace Act, an anti-workplace-bullying statute passed with great fanfare last Session. That law directed TACIR to create a model anti-bullying policy by March 1, 2015 that state and local governments could adopt as part of efforts or use as a template to combat workplace bullying and harassment. “We put people in jail daily for breaking state laws, and here is a situation where a state agency has not only broken the law but blatantly defied it,” said Parkinson. “Something should be done about it. Our taxpayer dollars fund this commission, and perhaps it’s time to hold the commission accountable to to the taxpayers and make the members follow the law.”

Candid testimony by TACIR Executive Director Lynnisse Roehrick-Patrick confirmed that the TACIR staff drafted a comprehensive model anti-bullying policy just as the Legislature had directed. By all accounts, according to Roehrick-Patrick, it was comprehensive, well-thought-out policy. Nevertheless, Roehrick-Patrick confirmed under questioning by committee members that TACIR has refused to issue the policy as required by the Healthy Workplace Act.

In a cooperative effort to spur TACIR to action, Parkinson brought legislation to extend the deadline for issuance of the policy, but found his bill referred from the Calendar and Rules Committee to the Governmental Operations Committee over his objections, in what he views as blatant partisan interference. “It’s a shame when bi-partisan legislation is simply thwarted by a handful of TACIR Board members because of concerns of special interests,” Parkinson stated. In committee, he specifically named David Fowler, Director of the Family Action Counsel, as a lobbyist working against the right for Tennesseans to work in a non-threatening workplace. The Family Action Council has been criticized for promoting the “License to Bully” and “Don’t Say Gay” bills considered and defeated in past years.

Parkinson opposed committee efforts to amend his bill to required formal rulemaking, which he described as a “thinly disguised effort to defeat the purpose of the Healthy Workplace Act and allow TACIR to simply flout its legal obligation to put forward a model anti-bullying policy.” Asked to comment on Parkinson’s allegations, David Fowler did not take issue with Parkinson’s statements, instead making a series of arguments against the Healthy Workplace Act. Fowler acknowledged under questioning by committee members that that bill already passed last year and remained the law of the land.

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