A frolic in the law of tort: expanding the scope of employers' vicarious liability

Abstract

The traditional approach to the imposition of employers' vicarious liability has recently been reconsidered and revised by the Supreme Court of Canada and the House of Lords, in the context of employees' sexual assaults committed against young persons in their charge. Under the new, more flexible approach, vicarious liability can be imposed on the basis of a close connection between the employment and the tort. This change is more than cosmetic. It is no longer necessary to show that the employee's wrongful act was a mode of carrying out the employment duties. This article reviews the case law in which this development has taken place, and considers the appropriateness of the close connection principle to cases of negligence-based torts.