Increase in penalties for failure to pay the UK National Minimum Wage... IS NOW IN FORCE
The maximum financial penalty for a failure to pay the National Minimum Wage increased this week. Previously, the maximum penalty was £20,000 per notice of underpayment, irrespective of the number of employees who have been underpaid by the employer. From 26 May 2015, the maximum penalty of £20,000 can now be calculated on a per worker basis rather than on a per employer notice basis.
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What is Vicarious Liability?
Vicarious liability is a form of strict, secondary liability that arises under the tort law doctrine of agency – respondeat superior – the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their subordinate, or, in a broader sense, the responsibility of any third party that had the "right, ability or duty to control" the activities of a violator.
What does this mean for Employers?
Employers are vicariously liable for the negligent acts or omissions by their employees in the course of employment (sometimes referred to as 'scope of employment').
The employer is charged with legal responsibility for the negligence of the employee because the employee is held to be an agent of the employer. If a negligent act is committed by an employee acting within the general scope of her or his employment, the employer will be held liable for damages.
One such area that employers need to watch out for with regard to the principle of vicarious liability is the area governing driving company vehicles
Some examples of cases heard where vicarious liability was upheld;
Smith v Stages (1989), an employee was involved in a road accident whilst travelling back to his normal place of employment. He had been working elsewhere. This was held to be within the course of his employment. Lord Lowry considered a decisive factor being that he was paid a normal working day pay for his day of travel.
Rose v Plenty 1976 which involved a milkman who, against company orders, took a 13 year old boy with him on his round. The boy was injured due to the milkman's negligent driving. The boy, who sued both the milkman and the dairy, initially lost his case but the matter came before the Court of Appeal when Lord Scarman found a crucial factor to be that the boy was actually helping in an unauthorised way by helping deliver milk.
The compensation explanation of vicarious liability holds that the logic for the doctrine is to ensure that innocent plaintiffs have a solvent employer against whom to sue and if we are to look at both the employee and employer it is more likely to be the employer who is wealthier and/or carries insurance.
The courts have held that vicarious liability does not arise in situations where the wrongful acts are not within the course of employment. Activities which are clearly outside the scope of the employment cannot give rise to vicarious liability such as driving the company vehicle to the shops or cinema in the evenings.
If you have no Company Vehicle Policy in place then just click here and get it sorted today! It is important to set up parameters that clearly outline what is acceptable and what is not when driving company vehicles.
Area covering points on your licence, speeding, accurate disclosure of any traffic violations, eye sight issues, parking in unauthorised areas, picking up unauthorised personnel etc can be included.
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