Tennessee Code Title 8. Public Officers and Employees § 8-30-309

(a) When an appointing authority desires to fill a position in the preferred service, and the commissioner cannot timely evaluate the pool of candidates for such vacancy, the commissioner may authorize the appointing authority to fill the position by temporary appointment for a period not to exceed six (6) months. A temporary appointee shall hold a position only until an appropriate pool has been established, the required evaluation is completed, and the appointment of the preferred service employee begins. No temporary appointment shall be renewed.

(b) An appointing authority may, with the approval of the commissioner, temporarily fill an existing preferred service position, for a period not to exceed ninety (90) days, by utilizing a temporary staffing service having a contract with the state to provide short-term temporaries. This subsection (b) applies only to the utilization of vendor-supplied temporaries.

(c) If the position to be filled is not officially vacant, the appointing authority must obtain the commissioner's approval to overlap the position with another prior to making an appointment.