## Facts

- Bernice Anderson worked for Save-A-Lot, Ltd. as a co-assistant manager at a grocery store in Memphis, Tennessee.
- Kenneth Bush was Anderson’s immediate supervisor; after Bush became a store manager, Anderson was transferred to work at the store he managed.
- Anderson alleged that Bush routinely followed her around the store and subjected her to sexual harassment, including lewd gestures, graphic sexual remarks about her body, and repeated requests for sex.
- Anderson alleged Bush also made physical contact during the harassment, including grabbing her hand and bumping against her.
- Anderson reported the incidents to other management employees at Save-A-Lot.
- Save-A-Lot investigated the report and transferred Anderson to another store.
- Anderson claimed she developed post-traumatic stress disorder and depression as a result of Bush’s conduct and incurred medical expenses and lost earnings.
- Anderson filed a Tennessee workers’ compensation action seeking benefits for her psychological injuries and also filed a separate federal civil-rights action based on the alleged harassment.
- The trial court granted summary judgment to Save-A-Lot on the workers’ compensation claim.
- A Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel reversed, concluding the injury arose out of and in the course of employment.
- Save-A-Lot appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether Anderson’s alleged PTSD and depression from her supervisor’s sexual harassment were compensable under Tennessee workers’ compensation as injuries “arising out of” and occurring “in the course of” employment.
2. Whether a purely psychological injury, without accompanying physical trauma, satisfies Tennessee’s mental-injury standard requiring an identifiable, stressful, work-related event producing a sudden mental stimulus.
3. Whether the trial court properly granted summary judgment to Save-A-Lot because the “arising out of” requirement failed as a matter of law.

## Decision

- The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel and reinstated the trial court’s summary judgment for Save-A-Lot.
- The court treated the main dispute as whether the injury “arose out of” the employment (work-related causal connection), rather than whether the conduct occurred at work.
- The court held Anderson’s psychological injuries did not “arise out of” her employment because the harassment was personal misconduct by the supervisor, not a risk tied to the work itself.
- The court rejected the idea that it is enough that Anderson encountered Bush “but for” being at work; workplace contact alone does not supply the statutory causal link.
- The court also relied on Tennessee’s limits on compensability for purely mental injuries, which require an identifiable, stressful, work-related event producing a sudden mental stimulus—requirements not met on this record.
- Because Anderson could not establish the statutory causation element on undisputed facts, summary judgment for the employer was proper.

## Legal Principles

- A workers’ compensation claimant must prove both (1) the injury occurred “in the course of” employment (time, place, and circumstances) and (2) the injury “arose out of” employment (a causal connection between the work and the injury).
- “Arising out of” requires more than showing the injury happened at the workplace or involved a supervisor; the work must be a cause in the sense that the risk is connected to the job.
- Injuries from conduct driven by strictly personal motives of a co-employee or supervisor generally do not arise out of employment, even if they occur during working hours and on the employer’s premises.
- For psychological injuries unaccompanied by physical injury, Tennessee requires proof of an identifiable, stressful, work-related event producing a sudden mental stimulus.
- Summary judgment is appropriate when, taking the evidence in the nonmovant’s favor, the proof still cannot satisfy a required statutory element such as “arising out of” employment.

## Conclusion

In Anderson v. Save-A-Lot, Ltd., the Tennessee Supreme Court held that an employee’s claimed PTSD and depression allegedly caused by a supervisor’s sexual harassment were not compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Law because the injury did not “arise out of” employment; the harassment was treated as personally motivated misconduct rather than a work-connected risk, and the state’s strict standard for purely mental injuries was not met, so summary judgment for the employer was reinstated.


Anderson v. Save-A-Lot, Ltd., 989 S.W.2d 277 (1999)