Do employers still have vicarious responsibility for the actions of their employees in secondary duties?
An employer is vicariously liable for anything done by their employees, provided it occurs during the normal course of the employee’s duties. This includes performing normal duties but in an unauthorised way. Normal duties will be anything that the employee does on behalf of the employer, whether “primary” or “secondary”. The head of the Children and Young People’s Service in each council has a legal duty to keep children safe. So it is obvious that his sub-ordinates in the fields you mention are acting within their duties in relation to child protection issues. So their local government employer will potentially be liable (or their insurance company will) for their actions. If you have grounds for a legal action then you can sue the employer as well as the individual employees.
