Tenn. High Court Rules In Telecommuter Comp Case

An employee assaulted while working at home cannot collect workers' compensation because the attack did not have enough connection to her employment, Tennessee's highest court has ruled.

The unanimous decision by the Tennessee State Supreme Court upheld an appeals court finding against Kristina Wait of East Nashville, Tenn., who was brutally beaten by an acquaintance from her neighborhood.

Ms. Wait, a senior director for the American Cancer Society, had worked from home for four years. On Sept. 3, 2004, she was preparing lunch when a neighbor, Nathanial Sawyers, paid a brief visit, then returned saying he had left his keys.

The court found that when Ms. Wait turned from the door, Mr. Sawyers followed her inside and beat her unconscious "without provocation or explanation."

In 2005, Ms. Wait filed for injury benefits from Travelers Indemnity Company of Illinois, the insurer for her employer, claiming the assault arose out of and occurred in the course of employment. Her case was dismissed on a summary judgment.

The high court, in upholding the chancery court on Friday, found that Ms. Wait's injuries did not occur from an employment-connected "street" hazard, which would be compensable.

The facts do not show that Ms. Wait was attacked "because she was identifiable as an ACS employee, or because she was performing a job duty, or because she was safeguarding ACS property," the court said in an opinion written by Chief Justice William M. Barker.

The plaintiff, the court said, was not advancing the interests of the ACS when she let in Mr. Sawyers, and her employment "did not impose any duty...to admit Sayers to her home."

While the court found the attack was a "neutral assault" not distinctly associated with employment, it rejected arguments by Travelers that Ms. Wait's injury did not occur "in the course of" her employment."

The court said "we reject" such a narrow interpretation of the worker's comp law.

Wade Cowan, the attorney for Ms. Wait, said he never doubted that workers' comp covered home-office employees, "but this was the first time the [Tennessee Supreme] court has recognized it applies to telecommuters and home office workers."

Mr. Cowan said he doubted the case would provoke any serious amount of litigation, noting that home office workers are "typically not prone to serious injury."

He said Mr. Sawyers had been arrested and pled guilty to attempted murder.