Did you know, as an employer, you can be held responsible for crimes which were committed by your staff at work?
The UK supreme court has ruled, that any employer can be held responsible for crimes which their staff have committed, whilst at work – which has extreme consequences on vicarious liability (when someone is held liable for another’s acts).
This has come from a case where, in brief, a Morrisons customer was suffered a violent, racist assault which happened on Morrison’s petrol station forecourts in 2008.
The customer asked the Morrisons employee to print off a document from a USB stick he had; the employee refused and told the customer to drive away, using foul, racist and threating language. The employee then followed the customer to his car, opened his door and punched him in the head.
The customer was knocked to the floor and kicked repeatedly by the employee and a supervisor had to intervene to stop the fight which led to a claim for compensation against Morrisons.
The high court and court of appeal both agreed that Morrisons were not responsible, due there not being a close enough connection to the employee’s job role and his conduct in the attack. However, it’s was argued and the supreme court disagreed with their decision.
This just goes to show the importance of having policies and procedures in place, to protect your business – let us know your thoughts!