In a major ruling about workplace rights and constitutional protections, the Tennessee Supreme Court has decided that private employers can fire at-will employees for petitioning the government. The Court found that the Tennessee Constitution’s right to petition applies only to government action—not to private companies.
The case involved Heather Smith, who worked at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company implemented a vaccine mandate for employees who interacted with the public. Although Smith did not hold a public-facing role, her supervisors told her she was expected to comply because of her leadership position.
Smith disagreed with the policy and sought a religious exemption, which was initially denied. She then emailed members of the Tennessee General Assembly to express her concerns and request legislative action. Her email was later read aloud during a committee meeting and shared with her employer. BlueCross warned her that sending the message violated their social media policy.
After sending a second email to legislators—this time clarifying that she was speaking only for herself—Smith was fired the next day. She then sued BlueCross, claiming she was wrongfully terminated for exercising her constitutional right to petition under Article I, Section 23 of the Tennessee Constitution.
The trial court dismissed the case, but the Court of Appeals revived it, holding that her communication with lawmakers might fall under a public policy exception to Tennessee’s employment at-will doctrine. That doctrine allows employers to fire workers at any time, for nearly any reason, unless the termination violates a specific law or well-established public policy.
However, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the appellate ruling in March 2025. In its opinion, the Court emphasized that the right to petition—like other rights in the state constitution—protects citizens from government actions, not from the decisions of private employers.
The Court noted that no other state has interpreted the right to petition as a limit on private employers’ authority to terminate employees. It found that doing so would go beyond the historical understanding of the right, which has long been seen as a safeguard against government repression, not private employment decisions.
Because BlueCross is a private company, the Court held that Smith’s firing did not violate a clear public policy. As a result, the Court reinstated the trial court’s dismissal of the lawsuit.
