Chapter Definitions

  1. Law
  2. Tennessee Code
  3. State Government
  4. Human Rights
  5. General Provisions
  6. Chapter Definitions

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As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

  1. “Commission” means the Tennessee human rights commission;
  2. “Commissioner” means a member of the commission;
    1. “Disability” means, with respect to a person:
      1. A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one (1) or more of such person's major life activities;
      2. A record of having such an impairment; or
      3. Being regarded as having such an impairment;
    2. “Disability” does not include current, illegal use of, or addiction to, a controlled substance or controlled substance analogue;
  4. “Discriminatory practices” means any direct or indirect act or practice of exclusion, distinction, restriction, segregation, limitation, refusal, denial, or any other act or practice of differentiation or preference in the treatment of a person or persons because of race, creed, color, religion, sex, age or national origin;
  5. “Employer” means the state, or any political or civil subdivision thereof, and persons employing eight (8) or more persons within the state, or any person acting as an agent of an employer, directly or indirectly;
  6. “Employment agency” means any person or agency, public or private, regularly undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure employees for an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to work for an employer;
  7. “Familial status” means one (1) or more individuals, who have not attained eighteen (18) years of age, being domiciled with:
    1. A parent or another person having legal custody of such individual or individuals; or
    2. The designee of such parent or other person having such custody, with the written permission of such parent or other person. The protections against discrimination on the basis of familial status shall apply to any person who is pregnant or who is in the process of securing legal custody of any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age;
  8. “Family” includes a single individual;
  9. “Financial institution” means a bank, banking organization, mortgage company, insurance company or other lender to whom application is made for financial assistance for the purchase, lease, acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair, maintenance or improvements of real property, or an individual employed by or acting on behalf of any of these;
  10. “Hearing examiner” is one (1) or more persons or commissioners, designated by the commission to conduct a hearing. The commission has the sole power to determine qualifications of the hearing examiner;
  11. “Housing accommodation” includes improved and unimproved property and means a building, structure, lot or part thereof that is used or occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied, as the home or residence of one (1) or more individuals;
  12. “Labor organization” includes any organization that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in relation to employment or any agent acting for organizations;
  13. “National origin” includes the national origin of an ancestor;
  14. “Person” includes one (1) or more individuals, governments, governmental agencies, public authorities, labor organizations, corporations, legal representatives, partnerships, associations, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, mutual companies, joint stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations or other organized groups of persons;
  15. “Places of public accommodation, resort or amusement” includes any place, store or other establishment, either licensed or unlicensed, that supplies goods or services to the general public or that solicits or accepts the patronage or trade of the general public, or that is supported directly or indirectly by government funds, except that:
    1. A bona fide private club is not a place of public accommodation, resort or amusement if its policies are determined solely by its members; and
    2. Its facilities or services are available only to its members and their bona fide guests;
  16. “Real estate broker” or “real estate salesperson” means an individual, whether licensed or not, who, on behalf of others, for a fee, commission, salary, or other valuable consideration, or who with the intention or expectation of receiving or collecting the same, lists, sells, purchases, exchanges, rents or leases real estate, or the improvements thereon, including options, or who negotiates or attempts to negotiate on behalf of others such activity; or who advertises or holds such individual out as engaged in such activities; or who negotiates or attempts to negotiate on behalf of others a loan secured by mortgage or other encumbrance upon a transfer of real estate, or who is engaged in the business of charging an advance fee or contracting for collection of a fee in connection with a contract whereby such individual undertakes to promote the sale, purchase, exchange, rental, or lease of real estate through its listing in a publication issued primarily for such purpose; or an individual employed by or acting on behalf of any of these;
  17. “Real estate operator” means any individual or combination of individuals, labor unions, joint apprenticeship committees, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers or other legal or commercial entities, or the county or any of its agencies, that is engaged in the business of selling, purchasing, exchanging, renting or leasing real estate, or the improvements thereon, including options, or that derives income, in whole or in part, from the sale, purchase, exchange, rental or lease of real estate; or an individual employed by or acting on behalf of any of these;
  18. “Real estate transaction” includes the sale, exchange, rental or lease of real property;
  19. “Real property” includes buildings, structures, real estate, lands, tenements, leaseholds, cooperatives, condominiums, and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal, or any interest in these; and
  20. “Sex” means and refers only to the designation of an individual person as male or female as indicated on the individual's birth certificate.


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