Vicarious Liability

Vicarious liability is a common law doctrine under which one person or organisation can be made legally responsible for a tort committed by another. Before it can apply, two elements must be shown: first, a relationship between the two parties that makes it proper for the law to make one pay for the fault of the other; second, a sufficient connection between that relationship and the wrongdoing of the person who committed the tort. Historically, the relationships that could give rise to vicarious liability were limited to that between an employee and an employer.

Case law has since made clear that a person can be held vicariously liable for the acts of someone who is not their employee, provided the relationship between them is sufficiently akin or analogous to employment — while still preserving the distinction between an employee and a genuinely independent contractor. Separately, under the Equality Act 2010, anything done by a person in the course of their employment is treated as also done by their employer for the purposes of discrimination claims, and it does not matter whether that thing was done with the employer's knowledge or approval.