Tennessee Workers' Compensation Lien Rights Waiver
Summary
Tennessee enacted SB1981 amending TCA Title 50, Chapter 6 to waive employers and workers' compensation carriers' subrogation liens and attorney's fee recovery when the employer contested medical causation, permanency, or extent of a work injury using a medical opinion from a physician other than the employee's designated C-42 panel physician. The bill passed the Senate 33-0 and House 94-0 with amendments, becoming law during the 114th General Assembly.
What changed
Tennessee SB1981 modifies workers' compensation law by eliminating an employer's or carrier's right to recover attorney's fees and assert subrogation liens when an employee obtains a third-party recovery if the employer contested the employee's work injury using medical opinions from physicians other than those on the employee's Form C-42 panel. The bill introduces a conditional limitation on subrogation rights tied to the employer's choice of medical expert witnesses.
Employers, workers' compensation carriers, and their legal counsel in Tennessee must now ensure that any challenge to medical causation, permanency, or injury extent relies exclusively on panel physician opinions to preserve subrogation and fee recovery rights. This change creates a direct financial consequence for non-compliance—complete forfeiture of recovery against third-party settlements or judgments.
What to do next
- Review workers' compensation subrogation procedures to ensure compliance with new waiver conditions
- Confirm all contested medical causation disputes utilize panel physicians designated on Form C-42 to preserve subrogation rights
- Update internal policies regarding medical opinion requirements in workers' compensation third-party recovery cases
Penalties
Loss of subrogation lien rights and attorney's fee recovery for employers and carriers that contest work injury causation, permanency, or extent using non-panel physician opinions
Source document (simplified)
ChangeBridge / Tennessee / SB1981 Passed SB1981 Senate Bill Passed 2026-03-12
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 50, Chapter 6, relative to workers' compensation.
As introduced, waives an employer's, or the employer's workers' compensation carrier's, recovery of a reasonable fee for attorney's services and authority to have a subrogation lien in cases where the employee recovers from a third party in a workers' compensation case and the employer contested the medical causation, permanency, or extent of employee's work injury with a medical opinion other than that from the employee's form C-42 panel physician; makes other changes related to workers' compensation. - Amends TCA Title 50, Chapter 6.
Bill Details
State Tennessee
Session 114th General Assembly
Chamber Senate
Official Source wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/Billinfo/Default?...
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Sponsors
Richard Briggs (Sen - R)
Action History
2026-04-07 H Passed H., as am., Ayes 94, Nays 0, PNV 0 2026-04-07 H H. adopted am. (Amendment 2 - HA0962) 2026-04-07 H Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0961) 2026-04-07 H Subst. for comp. HB. 2026-03-16 H Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk. 2026-03-12 S Engrossed; ready for transmission to House 2026-03-12 S Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 33, Nays 0 2026-03-12 S Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0581) 2026-03-10 S Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/12/2026 2026-03-03 S Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0 2026-02-24 S Placed on Senate Commerce and Labor Committee calendar for 3/3/2026 2026-02-05 S Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Commerce and Labor Committee 2026-02-02 S Introduced, Passed on First Consideration 2026-01-22 S Filed for introduction
Votes
2026-03-03 SENATE COMMERCE AND LABOR COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0 Yea: 9 Nay: 0 2026-03-12 FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration Yea: 33 Nay: 0
Committee Referrals
2026-02-05 S Commerce and Labor 2026-03-03 S Calendar
Amendments
2026-03-04 SA0581
Bill Text Versions
2026-01-22 Draft 2026-02-02 Draft
Subjects
Workers Compensation Legislative data powered by LegiScan (CC BY 4.0)
Named provisions
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