Nashville server’s lawsuit says guns in bars create unsafe workplace

By Nate Rau, The Tennessean

A Nashville server has filed a complaint with the state alleging that the mixture of guns and bars creates an unsafe work environment.

The server works at Jackson’s Bar and Bistro in Hillsboro Village. The complaint kept the person’s name anonymous.

The complaint alleges that it is a violation of Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations to allow permit holders to carry guns into places that serve alcohol, such as Jackson’s.

According to the complaint, the server has seen handguns carried into the restaurant and patrons forcefully ejected from the property.

Earlier this year, the state legislature passed a new law allowing guns in establishments that serve alcohol. Restaurant owners may choose to post a sign prohibiting firearms, but Jackson’s elected not to do so. Jackson’s owner Tom Sheffer could not be reached for a comment.

“The general duty clause of TOSHA says that an employer has a duty to protect and safeguard employees against recognized hazards to human health, safety and life,” said Nashville attorney David Randolph Smith, who is representing the server who filed the complaint. “The only question is, ‘Are armed gunmen a hazard in a bar?’ ”

A spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development confirmed the complaint had been received and said an inspection would take place in the coming weeks.

Smith said his client would consider filing a lawsuit in federal court if he or she exhausted his or her administrative remedies through the state. Smith was the lead attorney in the lawsuit that successfully struck down an earlier version of the guns-in-bars law in 2009.
Law was broadened

A Nashville judge ruled last year that a law allowing guns only in establishments that primarily sold food in addition to alcohol was unconstitutionally vague. In response, the General Assembly passed a new law allowing permit holders to carry into any establishment that serves alcohol.

“If we prevail, then it would be our position that every single bar in Tennessee has to post, otherwise they’re in violation of the (TOSHA) law,” Smith said.

John Harris, a Nashville attorney and executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, said he believes it is unlikely the new law would be found to create a workplace hazard.

Harris pointed out that permit holders have been allowed to carry in restaurants that don’t serve alcohol, and no violation has been found.

“Fundamentally, I think the problem (with the complaint) is the General Assembly has the authority to set policy for the state of Tennessee, including whether the state is going to get involved in regulating firearms,” Harris said. “This just seems to be an effort to try to get some other governmental agency to intervene in an issue.”

In the last 22 months, Jackson’s has been the site of nine incidents such as fights or drunk and disorderly behavior, according to Metro police.

Under the new law, it is still a misdemeanor violation for a permit holder to consume alcohol while in possession of a handgun.