Statute of Limitations for FLSA Claims (federal wage/hour) in Tennessee

Overview

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) creates federal wage-and-hour rights, including minimum wage and overtime rules. One recurring litigation issue is timing: whether a worker (or a business facing an FLSA claim) brought the lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations (SOL).

In Tennessee (US-TN), your SOL analysis turns primarily on the federal FLSA framework, but this DocketMath page focuses on the general/default limitations period reflected in Tennessee’s cited statute reference provided for this jurisdiction: Tennessee Code Annotated § 40-35-111(e)(2).

Limitation period

Default (general) SOL period: 1 years

For this jurisdiction, the general/default SOL period is 1 years. The jurisdiction data specifies:

• General SOL Period: 1 years
• General Statute: **Tennessee Code Annotated § 40-35-111(e)(2)
• Claim-type-specific sub-rule: Not found in the provided jurisdiction data

That last point matters. Because no claim-type-specific sub-rule was found, you should treat 1 years as the baseline deadline for the purposes of this reference page, rather than attempting to shorten or extend the time based on a more granular category.

How the deadline is calculated (practical approach)

Most SOL calculations run off a key date, such as:

• the date the employee knew or should have known of the alleged wage/hour violation, or
• the date of the first violation that forms the basis of the claim.

Because FLSA timing can be fact-sensitive in general, DocketMath’s calculator is designed to operationalize the deadline from the inputs you provide (see the next section).

Here’s how to think about the effect of your inputs in plain terms:

• Earlier “violation/notice” date → shorter remaining time before the SOL expires.
• Later “violation/notice” date → longer remaining time before the SOL deadline.
• Changing from default to a different rule (if your situation triggers it) would change the SOL window—this page, however, uses the default general period identified above.

Quick checklist

Use this as a starting workflow:

Key exceptions

The jurisdiction data you provided states that no claim-type-specific sub-rule was found. That means we do not have an alternate, category-based SOL length in this reference page.

Still, “exceptions” usually fall into one of two buckets:

1. Different limitations rule for a specific cause of action, or
2. Doctrines that toll or extend time (e.g., equitable tolling, tolling by statute, or other legal mechanisms).

Because this page is constrained to the general/default period and the provided Tennessee statute reference, the most accurate approach here is to treat 1 years as the baseline unless you have a separate legal basis to apply a different limitations rule or tolling doctrine.

If you’re preparing for a deadline-focused review, consider documenting:

Statute citation

Tennessee Code Annotated § 40-35-111(e)(2) is the general statute referenced for this jurisdiction’s limitation period.

• General statute: Tennessee Code Annotated § 40-35-111(e)(2)
• Provided SOL period: 1 years
• Statute link: https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-40/chapter-35/part-1/section-40-35-111/

Based on the provided jurisdiction data, there is no claim-type-specific sub-rule included here—so the 1-year general/default period is treated as the controlling baseline for this reference page.

Use the calculator

DocketMath’s statute-of-limitations tool helps you translate the general rule into a concrete deadline.

Go to: /tools/statute-of-limitations

Inputs to use (conceptually)

To get a meaningful output, you’ll typically enter:

• Trigger date (the event date you’re using to start the SOL clock)
• Jurisdiction (US-TN)
• Rule selection (default vs. any alternate rule the tool supports)

For this page, select the default general SOL of 1 years (because no claim-type-specific sub-rule was found in the jurisdiction data).

Output: how the deadline changes

Once you run the calculator:

• You’ll see an expiration date based on trigger date + 1 years.
• If your proposed filing date is:

  • on or before the expiration date → the SOL is generally treated as satisfied under the default rule;
  • after the expiration date → the filing is generally treated as late under the default rule.

Even so, timing arguments can be disputed. Keep your work auditable by saving:

• the trigger date basis (e.g., “last date of unpaid overtime”),
• the calculated expiration date shown by DocketMath, and
• the filing/served date you compared against it.

Related reading

• Choosing the right statute of limitations tool for Vermont — Tool comparison
• Statute of limitations in Singapore: how to estimate the deadline — How-to guide
• Choosing the right statute of limitations tool for Connecticut — Tool comparison