Seven Theories of Supervisory Liability

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An employer’s responsibility for the actions of his or her employees is called vicarious liability. This type of responsibility usually depends on the type of employee and the surrounding circumstances of the action or inaction in question. As a standard rule, it is considered that a company can only be held liable for an employee’s wrongdoing in certain cases (LaVelle, 2018). The following will explain what is meant by these cases.

Under U.S. law, an employer is liable for wrongful acts committed by his subordinate. In some cases, the supervisor may be found guilty even if he or she did not give an agreement for the employee to do something. The employer can be held liable if he decides to hire the employee, despite being aware of the worker’s unlawful behavior (LaVelle, 2018). In such a case, the plaintiff’s attorney may bring a negligence claim showing that the supervisor knew of the employee’s propensity to commit the offenses in question. Likewise, U.S. law stipulates that employers are also responsible if they direct or approve a particular unlawful act by a sub-agent. Nevertheless, if an employee goes to prison, employers always have the opportunity to visit him or her and make sure he or she is held in normal conditions (Texas Jail Project, n.d.). They can also file a complaint to the sheriff, describing the problems faced by their former subordinates.

It is often difficult to hold managers personally accountable for the misconduct of their employees. However, there are a number of exceptions to the general rule, some of which have already been outlined above. In addition to these situations, the employer will be liable if it is found that he had authority comparable to the principal’s actions. In order to avoid costly lawsuits, employers need to choose their employees responsibly.

There are seven different theories under which supervisors can be held liable for employee actions. The first is the concept of respondeat superior, according to the workers’ offenses committed when performing their work duties is the employer’s area of responsibility. A guilty plea is possible if the employee’s action is clearly related to the supervisor’s original instructions. When an employee is injured while working, the superiors must pay injury compensation – the second theory of liability.

Under the third theory of vicarious liability, if the employer authorizes a certain act that caused the offense, his or her guilt is present. However, this rule applies only to actions committed during working hours. Negligent hiring can cause an employer to be sued and is considered the fourth employer liability theory. Under this legal concept, employers are accountable for acts performed by staff members beyond their job duties.

In addition, liability applies not only in cases when the employee was hired but also when he was retained after it was found that this person was not suitable for the job. In this way, retention is the fifth theory of employer liability. The anti-harassment law provides, among other things, that an employer, if he or she contributes to an unfriendly atmosphere, may be at fault. Thus, under the sixth theory, the cause of responsibility is harassment abetment. Nondiscriminatory provisions of employment law operate in a similar way, resulting for example, in a decision in favor of the plaintiffs in Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York (1978). According to the seventh theory, the employer compensates the employee under joint and several liability.