20-14-101 - Chapter definitions. - Tennessee Statutes

20-14-101. Chapter definitions.

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

     (1)  “Course of conduct” means a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose, including following or stalking an employee to or from the employee's place of work, entering the workplace of an employee, following an employee during hours of employment, telephone calls to an employee, and correspondence with an employee, including, but not limited to, the use of the public or private mails, interoffice mail, facsimile or computer e-mail;

     (2)  “Credible threat of violence” means a knowing and willful statement or course of conduct that would cause a reasonable person to believe that the person is under threat of death or serious bodily injury and that is intended to, and that actually causes, a person to believe that the person is under threat of death or serious bodily injury;

     (3)  “Employer” means any person or entity that employs one (1) or more employees and shall include the state and its political subdivisions and instrumentalities;

     (4)  “Labor dispute” includes any controversy concerning terms or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether or not the disputants stand in the proximate relationship of employer and employee; and

     (5)  “Unlawful violence” means assault, aggravated assault or stalking, as prohibited by §§ 39-13-101, 39-13-102, and 39-17-315, but shall not include lawful acts of self-defense or defense of others.

[Acts 2002, ch. 541, § 2.]