Whenever an employee takes an action that causes harm to another individual there is a possibility their employer may be vicariously liable for the harm. Thus, every employer, regardless of the industry, carries the risk of being sued for the actions of their employees. For that reason, companies and their HR need to be aware of what vicarious liability is and how they can help minimize the risk it carries.
What is vicarious liability?
According to Legal Dictionary, vicarious liability is:
a legal concept that assigns liability to an individual who did not actually cause the harm, but who has a specific superior legal relationship to the person who did cause the harm.
It then recognizes that:
Vicarious liability most commonly comes into play when an employee has acted in a negligent manner for which the employer will be held responsible.
Also, vicarious liability is called imputed liability and in legal sounding Latin, respondeat superior.
Moreover, just because employee cause harm to another individual does not automatically result in vicarious liability. Instead, to win a vicarious liability case, the victim typically has to show not only that the employee was negligent, but the company was independently negligent. The argument that the employer was independently negligent for the harm most often takes the form of the company failing to take proper actions to prevent the harm from happening.
Examples of vicarious liability in the workplace
Some examples of when an employee may be imputed with the liability of an employee include:
- A company failed to properly train an electrician about turning off the electricity while there were exposed wires, and the homeowner accidentally touches the wires.
- A company puts pressure on a truck driver to meet a deadline, and the driver ended up causing an accident because they were rushing due to the deadline.
- A hospital fails to have proper procedures in place, and a surgeon ends up leaving a surgical instrument inside a patient.
- The safety inspector fails to adequately inspect a worksite, and a visitor ended up fall in a hole because guardrails were not tightened sufficiently.
In these types of situations, the victim who lives in Wisconsin by contact an Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer not only to sue the employee but also the company for vicarious liability.
How to avoid vicarious liability
It is reasonable to expect that when an employee causes harm to another individual, a personal goodwill attorney will file a lawsuit with both the employee and the company. And although an employer cannot prohibit that from happening, they can take steps to help defeat the claims against them.
Here are several steps HR take to help protect their company from vicarious liability lawsuits.
Regulation awareness and compliance
Every industry is governed by laws and regulations. Additionally, the laws and regulations can change regularly. Because of that, HR professionals need to not only be aware of the laws and regulations that exist but to which employees they apply, and which manager is responsible for those employees. That way, HR can provide the regulatory support for each employee, supervisor, and manager will need to prevent accidents from occurring.
Written policies and procedures
Once HR understands the laws and regulations, it is usually their responsibility to ensure there are written policies and procedures to be distributed to employees and supervisors so they can comply with the rules. Written policies and procedures become effective defenses against vicarious liability claims because it robs the victim of the argument that the employee was not aware their behavior carried risk of harm to others.
Regular training
After understanding the laws and regulations and establishing written policies and procedures, HR will be responsible for ensuring employees and supervisors are properly trained to conform to those rules. Additionally, if regular training is not required by a law or regulation, HR should establish a schedule to ensure regular training is happening.
Performance reviews
Performance reviews give HR an opportunity to find out which employees are struggling to comply with rules that keep themselves and other safety from harm. They can then support supervisors as they try to help employees improve their safety awareness and compliance. It also gives the company a documented, non-discriminatory reason to terminate an employee who causes too much risk to the company of a lawsuit.
Root cause analysis
After all of this, there may be times when employee risky behavior slips through the cracks. When this happens, HR should take an active role in doing a root cause analysis of why the accident happened. By doing so, HR helps prevent the same harm happening again.
Maintain proper insurance
HR should make sure the company has insurance that will help mitigate the cost of vicarious liability claims. This step may be most important for HR professionals who work for small business owners who may forget the importance of insurance or are hesitant to spend money on another expense that may seem unnecessary.
Conclusion
Companies are faced with all sorts of risks as they run their business. One of those risks is employee behaviors that can result in harm to other individuals. Moreover, if an employer is not prepared, they may also find themselves paying out significant amounts of money as they are found vicariously liable for an employee’s actions. Bu being aware and taking proactive steps, HR and their companies can minimize the risk associated with employee negligence.
