Human Resource Case Study Assignment Help On Vicarious Liability Example of Specific Types of Vicarious Liability

Vicarious liability refers to those employers liability in which they may be vicariously liable for the acts of their

employees or agents. Tests for vicarious liability under discrimination legislation are different to tests of vicarious liability at common law in terms of the type of connection between an employee’s conduct and his/her employment and the availability of a “reasonable steps” argument to show absence of liability (Cch, 2010, p. 303). For instance, hospitals, long-term care facilities, nursing homes and other care providers can be held vicariously responsible for the actions of their employees. There was a case of Bryant v. Hunt in which the patient died of asphyxiation when she became wedged between the mattress and the bed rail due to the alleged negligence of the nursing home’s employees. The Court of Appeals of Michigan found that a nursing home is responsible to offer an accident free environment to its residents (American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, 2011). It is the reason that the court found that the case was an ordinary negligence claim for which the defendant nursing home can be found to be vicariously liable. In addition to this HR Law case study assignment help  experts of US and Australia says that in discrimination cases, vicarious liability is the norm. For example, if a manager discriminates against older workers when deciding whom to lay off in the business, the company is liable for that discrimination, regardless of whether top managers were aware of the practice or encouraged it in any way (Walsh, 2012, p. 283). At the same time, if a manager or supervisor uses the decision making authority in order to exact sexual favors, the employer will have the vicarious liability.  Even though the manager is acting outside the scope of his employment, he is still an agent of the employer and aided in carrying out the harassment by being given the authority to make employment decisions. Following are steps that can be taken by organizations in order to minimize the potential cost of such vicarious liability: Recognize the source of Vicarious Liability: First of all, it is necessary for companies to recognize the source such as employees’ behavior and conflicts in the organization of vicarious liability that can cause to additional cost for companies (Estreicher & Harper, 2008).

Measure of Potential Impact: Once the sources of liability are identified, in next step, their potential impact on the business is measured to reduce the adverse impact on the company. Reduction of Risk: In this step, companies decide what to do with risk. There are several alternatives such as risk avoidance, risk transfer, risk control and risk retention that can be used by the companies in order to reduce the risk. Among all these methods, any of the method can be used by employers in order to minimize the potential cost of such vicarious liability. For example, organizations such as restaurants and hospitals can implement an effective training program in the organization in order to control potential cost of vicarious liability. Additionally, managers or supervisors can clearly define expectations from different agents or employees and can set appropriate guidelines to control issues related vicarious liability in the organization (Koocher & Spiegel, 2008). After deciding the way of controlling the risk, firms should implement the decided program within the organization effectively. Firms can choose more than one program or technique to manage the risk.

It will be beneficial for managers to involve stakeholders in this process in order to enhance the effectiveness of all steps. Result Monitoring: It is also necessary that firms continuously monitor or supervise all above steps so that they can reduce the possibility of vicarious liability. In this concern, it will be beneficial to regular supervision of employees, identification of alternatives and other options to minimize potential cost.   References American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (2011). Risk Management Handbook for Health Care Organizations, 3 Volume Set. USA: John Wiley & Sons. Cch (2010). Australian Master Human Resources Guide 2010. Australia: CCH Australia Limited. Estreicher, S. & Harper, M. C. (2008). Cases and Materials on Employment Discrimination Law. Thomson/West. Koocher, G. P. & Spiegel, P. K. (2008). Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Standards and Cases. UK: Oxford University Press. Walsh, D. J. (2012). Employment Law for Human Resource Practice. USA: Cengage Learning.  

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