Tennessee Code Title 8. Public Officers and Employees § 8-39-106

(a) It is expressly declared to be the intent of the general assembly in awarding this gratuitous allowance that the teacher or state employee, as the case may be, shall, in order to qualify for the allowance herein, never have participated in or had the opportunity to participate in any of the superseded systems as defined in § 8-34-101 or the Tennessee consolidated retirement system and, therefore, never had an opportunity to earn a retirement allowance during the teacher's or state employee's total period of service.

(b) Any teacher or state employee who otherwise qualifies for the allowance granted by this part shall not be qualified therefor if the teacher or employee continued such teacher's or employee's career in teaching or public employment in another state wherein retirement credit is or may be granted for service performed in or for the state of Tennessee.