Elements of Vicarious Liability in the Workplace

In many cases, an employer can be held liable for an injury if the injury was caused by neglect by improper maintenance of equipment of by another employee. This would certainly be cause for a personal injury case and would be labeled, “vicarious liability”.

A vicarious liability is imposed on an individual or an entity if neglect or wrongful conduct to someone else has been proven. Vicarious liability is based on a relationship normally between the employer and the employee. In some cases, the vicarious liability can be used when a parent is liable for their minor children’s actions. Another example would be when an owner of a vehicle loans their vehicle out to someone else and they get into an accident.

In order for an employer to be considered vicariously liable for an accident or occurrence the person who was injured will normally need to convince the judge of the following:

The employee/employer relationship currently exists
• between the individual who is considered the wrongdoer as well as the company
• wrongful act occurred during employment.

Proving an Employment Relationship

If you want to hold an employer responsible for an act that caused an injury to another employee, the person who was injured must first provide proof that the party who caused the injury was indeed an employee. In most cases the employer will not dispute the claim that the employee still works at their company.

Proving Negligence “Within the Course and Scope of Employment”

If the individual performed an act that caused an injury to another employer, the injured employer would need to provide proof that the individual did indeed cause the injury while at work. The injured person must be able to also prove that the said employer would have been able to foresee that an accident could have happened but they did it anyway.

Here’s an example of this type of lawsuit:

Suppose a salesperson was driving a company vehicle to perform sales on a route. While driving, that individual runs a red light and that results in a vehicle accident. The employer would then be held vicariously liable for the negligence of the driver.

Another example of this would be if an employee was commuting from home to work or if the employee decides to go somewhere for lunch in their own vehicle and they get into an accident while they are on company time.

It’s not always this easy to make a case because there are several obstacles that could get in the way. If you believe that you have been injured, you will want to hire a personal injury lawyer in Halifax that can represent you in a vicarious liability claim.

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