SUPREME COURT CASE SUMMARY: Erin Lindsay vs. Minneapolis Public Schools

SUPREME COURT – OCTOBER 22, 2025
No. A25-0193
WCCA No. WC24-6567

The employee was employed as a math teacher in the Minneapolis Public School District. On February 8, 2023, she was asked by five students in her math class to play basketball with them after school.  When the employee arrived at the school’s gym to play basketball with her five students, she was asked by the team’s coach to instead attend practice the next day. The employee testified that she received permission from the coach and from the school’s principal to play basketball with her students on February 9, 2023.  The employee then suffered a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during a rebounding drill with her students at basketball practice on February 9, 2023.

The employee claimed entitlement to workers’ compensation benefits for a work-related injury to her left knee occurring on February 9, 2023.  The self-insured employer denied the claim on the basis that the employee’s injury occurred while playing basketball, a recreational activity after work hours, which was not related to her job duties as a math teacher. 

Following a hearing, the compensation judge concluded that the employee’s injury arose out of and in the course of her employment.

The Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals affirmed the compensation judge’s decision. 

The Minnesota Supreme Court then affirmed the decision of the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals. The Minnesota Supreme Court concluded that the employee’s injury occurred within a reasonable period beyond her workday and her participation in the basketball practice was within the scope of her regular duties and advanced her employer’s interests; thus, she was injured in the course of her employment. In addition, the Minnesota Supreme Court concluded that a voluntary employer-sponsored recreational program under Minnesota Statutes Section 176.021, subdivision 9, was a program for the benefit of employees, which did not apply in this case.

Summary prepared by Attorney Logan Sharp