When Tennessee said the Foreign Language Institute is 'attached to the board of regents for administrative purposes,' did that make TFLI staff Board of Regents employees instead of state employees?

Subject

Opinion No. 15-57, Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-50-1306, Tennessee Foreign Language Institute Employees, July 14, 2015

Plain-English summary

The Tennessee Foreign Language Institute was created in 1989 to provide language training for state purposes. In 1990, the General Assembly added a one-sentence amendment that "the institute shall be attached to the board of regents for administrative purposes." Decades later, the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation asked the AG whether that phrase converted TFLI employees from State of Tennessee employees into Tennessee Board of Regents employees, which would change their sick leave bank participation, retirement plan, annual leave accrual, and holiday observance.

The AG said no. "For administrative purposes" means for the purpose of management or supervision. It does not, by itself, reach personnel classification, benefits, or leave. When the legislature has wanted to extend an attachment to personnel matters, it has said so explicitly. The example the AG cited is Tenn. Code Ann. § 9-8-102, which attaches the Board of Claims to the Department of the Treasury "[f]or the purpose of administration, including fiscal and personnel operations." The TFLI statute does not include that "including" language, so it does not reach personnel. By implication (expressio unius), the legislature's failure to mention personnel signals it was not part of the deal. TFLI employees stayed State of Tennessee employees. The AG also noted as a historical footnote that TBR and TFLI officials at the time apparently executed a management contract that made the same point, with TFLI staff continuing as state employees.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2015. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Why does the distinction matter?

It changes the benefits regime. Tennessee state employees, TBR employees, and employees of constituent state institutions sometimes have different rules for the sick leave bank, retirement plan tiers, accrual rates, and holidays. Misclassifying a group can mean providing the wrong benefits and create liability later.

How can "attached to" mean two different things?

It depends on the surrounding text. Some attachment statutes (like the one for the Board of Claims) explicitly bring fiscal and personnel matters into the attachment. Others (like the TFLI provision) just say "for administrative purposes" without that extra language. Courts and the AG read silence as meaningful.

What does "for administrative purposes" actually cover?

Things like budget administration, payroll processing, financial reporting, and operational support. Functions the host agency can perform on behalf of the attached entity without changing the attached entity's legal identity or its employees' employer.

Why did the AG flag the management contract?

To show that the parties at the time of the 1990 amendment shared the same understanding the AG reached: TFLI employees would stay as state employees, with the TBR providing administrative support. That contemporaneous reading reinforces the AG's reading of the statute.

Background and statutory framework

Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 49-50-1301 et seq. created the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute. The TFLI is governed by a board (Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-50-1303) and authorized to hire staff (§ 49-50-1304). Funding comes from an endowment, with state matching subject to appropriation (§ 49-50-1305).

The 1990 amendment, 1990 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 1014, added Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-50-1306(b): "[t]he institute shall be attached to the board of regents for administrative purposes." Compare Tenn. Code Ann. § 9-8-102(a), which attaches the Board of Claims to the Department of the Treasury "[f]or the purpose of administration, including fiscal and personnel operations."

The AG's interpretive framework: ascertain legislative intent without unduly restricting or expanding the statute (Owens v. State, 908 S.W.2d 923, 926 (Tenn. 1995)); give undefined terms their ordinary and natural meaning (Limited, Inc. v. Comm'r, 286 F.3d 324, 332 (6th Cir. 2002)); apply expressio unius (Amos v. Metro. Gov't of Nashville & Davidson Cnty., 259 S.W.3d 705 (Tenn. 2008)).

Citations

• Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 49-50-1301 to 1306 (TFLI Act)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-50-1306(b) (attachment to TBR)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 9-8-102(a) (Board of Claims attachment, fiscal and personnel included)
• 1990 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 1014
• Owens v. State, 908 S.W.2d 923 (Tenn. 1995)
• Amos v. Metro. Gov't of Nashville & Davidson Cnty., 259 S.W.3d 705 (Tenn. 2008)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/opinions.html
• Original PDF: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2015/op15-057.pdf

Original opinion text

STATE OF TENNESSEE
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
July 14, 2015
Opinion No. 15-57
Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-50-1306, Tennessee Foreign Language Institute Employees

Question

Does the statement in Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-50-1306 that the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute ("TFLI") "shall be attached to the state board of regents for administrative purposes," mean that TFLI employees should be classified as employees of the Tennessee Board of Regents ("TBR") rather than of the State of Tennessee for purposes of participation in a sick leave bank, retirement, accrual of annual leave, and observation of holidays?

Opinion

The phrase "attached to the board of regents for administrative purposes" did not change the classification status of TFLI employees when it was added as an amendment to Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-50-1306, nor did it impact TFLI leave, benefits, or holidays. TFLI employees should be classified as employees of the State of Tennessee, and not as TBR employees.

ANALYSIS

The Tennessee Foreign Language Institute was established pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 49-50-1301. The TFLI is governed by a board composed of members designated by statute. The board is responsible for hiring an executive director for the TFLI, and the TFLI is directed to "hire other staff approved by the board." Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-50-1304. Tennessee Code Annotated § 49-50-1305 created an endowment fund within the state treasury and provides that income from the endowment "shall be used for the operation and maintenance of the institute." Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-50-1305(c). The endowment can be funded by private contributions that are matched by the state on a dollar-for-dollar basis "subject to the general appropriations act." Tenn. Code. Ann. § 49-50-1305(d).

Tennessee Code Annotated § 49-50-1306(b) provides that "[t]he institute shall be attached to the board of regents for administrative purposes." This "attachment amendment" was added to the TFLI statute in 1990. 1990 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 1014. It is a one-sentence amendment with no additional language provided for context or meaning. The opinion request inquires about the impact of the attachment provision as it relates to employee classification.

The term "administrative" is not defined in the attachment amendment, nor is there an applicable definition section. "The most basic principle of statutory construction is to ascertain and give effect to the legislative intent without unduly restricting or expanding a statute's coverage beyond its intended scope." Owens v. State, 908 S.W.2d 923, 926 (Tenn. 1995). When the text of a statute contains an undefined term, that term receives its ordinary and natural meaning. The Limited, Inc. v. Comm'r, 286 F.3d 324, 332 (6th Cir. 2002) (citing Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Meyer, 510 U.S. 471, 476 (1994)). "Administrative" is commonly and ordinarily understood to mean "of or relating to administration," and "administration" is synonymous with "management." Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed. Thus, the ordinary meaning of the phrase "for administrative purposes" is for purposes of the process of managing or supervising. See id. So when the phrase is used in the attachment amendment, it means that the TFLI is to be managed and supervised as part of the TBR. It does not, however, change the employment status of the TFLI employees.

There are many statutes in the Tennessee Code that attach one entity to another for administrative purposes. For example, Tennessee Code Annotated § 9-8-102 attaches the Board of Claims to the Department of the Treasury "[f]or the purpose of administration, including fiscal and personnel operations." Tenn. Code Ann. § 9-8-102(a) (emphasis added). Here, the legislature clearly intended to encompass fiscal and personnel matters within the scope of the Department's "administration" of the Board of Claims. The TFLI statute, in contrast, does not specify fiscal and personnel operations. Further, it does not reference employee classification, nor does it specify a change relative to TFLI employee benefits, leave, or holidays. If the legislature had intended to impact TFLI personnel policies, it could have done so expressly as it did for the Board of Claims. See Amos v. Metro. Gov't of Nashville & Davidson Cnty., 259 S.W.3d 705 (Tenn. 2008) (applying the principle of expressio unius est exclusio alterius – to express one thing is to exclude others – and holding that if the Metropolitan Council had intended for accrued vacation to be treated in a similar manner as sick leave, it would have expressed that intent explicitly).

For these reasons, this Office concludes that the language of the attachment amendment did not change the status of TFLI employees from State of Tennessee employees to TBR employees. TFLI employees should be classified as State of Tennessee employees for the purposes of benefits, leave, and holidays. This Office cannot opine as to the specific benefits TFLI employees may be eligible to receive because each employee may be eligible for different benefits depending on his or her particular terms of employment or employment status (e.g., part-time, full-time, hourly, salaried, etc.).

HERBERT H. SLATERY III
Attorney General and Reporter

ANDRÉE SOPHIA BLUMSTEIN
Solicitor General

KETA J. BARNES
Assistant Attorney General

Requested by:
The Honorable Russ Deaton
Interim Executive Director
Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation
Suite 1510, Parkway Towers
404 James Robertson Parkway
Nashville, TN 37243-0820

Footnotes:

1. Those members include the executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, the commissioner of Economic and Community Development, three individuals appointed by the governor, and several other state officials. Tenn. Code. Ann. § 49-50-1303.

2. Courts may also look to legislative history to interpret a statute if the language is unclear. Here, a review of audiotapes from legislative discussions for the amendment provides no insight into the purpose of the amendment or the meaning of the word "administrative."

3. It appears that TBR and TFLI officials (in leadership when the amendment passed) reached the same conclusion and executed an apparent management contract providing that the TBR would perform certain administrative functions for the TFLI (such as payroll, financial reporting, and monetary disbursements) and also providing that TFLI employees would "not become employees of the Tennessee Board of Regents, but as of July 1, 1990, will continue as employees of the State of Tennessee in the same status as previously accorded them and will be entitled to all of the benefits provided to the TFLI employees on June 30, 1990, and to any modifications or changes in such benefits programs which occur in the future."