Appeals court reverses mental injury claim involving employee evaluation

The Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board on Wednesday reversed the dismissal of a mental injury claim filed by a woman who alleged her pre-existing post-traumatic stress disorder was exacerbated by conduct during a work performance review in 2023 that was prepared by a supervisor she had claimed sexually harassed her.

As documented in case No. 2024-60-0333, during a meeting a colleague at commercial real estate data platform CoStar Group Inc. “inadvertently” used the word “kidnapped,” which although not directed to or about the claimant, reminded her of a past traumatic event.

The mental injury claim also contended that her condition was also exacerbated by an employee evaluation, given a couple of hours after the meeting, written by a supervisor who she had previously made sexual harassment claims against.

As documented in records, the woman “believed that the male supervisors who delivered the performance review were aware of both the nature of the allegations against her direct supervisor and the existence of an ongoing investigation. According to (her), the male supervisors who conducted her performance review were dismissive of her concerns, disregarded the impact of the ongoing investigation on her, and acted in a ‘collective, tribal way’ to cause her harm by conducting the performance review at that time and in that manner.”

A trial court, in granting a summary judgment and dismissing her claim, concluded that her “feelings are not uncommon or unexpected” in such work proceedings and that the claimant “acknowledged her physical safety was not harmed or threatened.”

The appeals court reversed, finding that the summary judgment was “improper,” writing that “there are one or more genuine issues of material fact regarding the circumstances of the performance evaluation, the conditions under which it was conducted, the impact of such events on the mental condition of a reasonable employee in similar circumstances, and whether such events could constitute a ‘sudden or unusual’ mental stimulus under these circumstances.”