NASHVILLE — The state Legislature on Monday passed a bill allowing workers to sue their employers if they are fired for storing guns in cars parked on company lots.
The Senate passed the measure on a 28-5 vote, and the House later followed suit on a 78-14 vote.
The state in 2013 enacted a law to give handgun-carry permit holders the right to store their firearms in vehicles on company lots regardless of their employers’ wishes.
But an attorney general’s opinion later found that while the law decriminalized the actions of those who ignored posted gun bans on private property, employers could still terminate workers for violating company firearms policies.
The bill’s sponsors, Sen. Mark Green of Clarksville and fellow Republican Rep. Curry Todd of Collierville, said the new measure clears up legal confusion over the original law and would place the burden on fired workers to prove that they were fired solely for storing their guns in company lots.