Vicarious liability is the legal term for holding a person or entity responsible for the wrongdoing of another person or entity. This is often where an employer is held responsible for the actions of his employee when those actions are related to the course of employment.
For example, in a famous case, a jury awarded a woman eight million dollars after she was raped by the security guard at her apartment complex. The defence argued that the security guard was acting outside the scope of his employment when he committed this crime, and thus his employer, XYZ Co., should not be held accountable. However, evidence was presented in court showing that XYZ had provided guards with a key to every apartment in case there was ever an emergency, and they were expected to use those keys at their discretion to provide assistance to tenants. The jury found that because XYZ Co. had given this employee access to the plaintiff’s home, they were vicariously liable for his actions when he raped her inside her apartment.
To hold an employer vicariously liable, the following elements must be shown:
1) The employer-employee relationship exists between the parties;
2) The employee’s actions were negligent and caused harm; and
3) The negligent action was committed while working within the scope of his employment
The employer-employee relationship exists between the parties
The employer-employee relationship between the parties in vicarious liability claims can be established through a number of ways, including but not limited to:
- The employer controls the employee’s day-to-day activities.
- The employer provides the tools needed for the employee’s job.
- The employer determines how much the employee will be compensated and how he or she will be paid.
- The employer provides fringe benefits such as insurance and vacation days, as well as other perks like company cars and cell phones.
- The employee makes regular reports to his or her supervisor about the progress of his or her work and is subject to some degree of supervision by their employer.
The employee’s actions were negligent and caused the harm and committed while working within the scope of his employment
This is not as straightforward as it sounds. Just because someone is wearing a uniform or even has a name badge with a company logo on it does not mean they are an actual employee of the company or that he was acting within the scope of his employment.
For example, A factory employee injured another person in an unrelated traffic accident while travelling to work. In this case, because the employee was not performing his duties as an employee when the accident occurred, it is likely that he would be held personally liable for any resulting damage or injury.
However, it needs to be proved that the employee was acting within the scope of his or her employment during the accident. In other words, you must show that his or her actions were related to his job. For example, if an employee is driving a company car to deliver mail and hits someone with the car, then he would definitely qualify as acting within the scope of their employment. But if he hit someone while they were on their way home from work after working hours, then they would not qualify as acting in the scope of their employment. Also, the employee’s act has to cause the injury or harn negligently.
In today’s day and age, more and more people are looking at their legal options in the event that they are injured or harmed. It is often not just the person who caused the problem that will be held liable. If you have employees or other workers that are under your control, you could find yourself in a very unfortunate situation if they ever cause problems for someone else. You could be held liable for their actions even though you were not involved; this is because vicarious liability laws allow those who were harmed to seek compensation from the parent company or individual in charge of the one who caused their injuries. Therefore, It is important to understand vicarious liability claims because of the many different ways that they can impact your business.