When may employers be liable for another persons actions?
The D.D.A. imposes liability for • causing, instructing, inducing, aiding or permitting unlawful acts (under D.D.A. section 122) • unlawful acts of agents or employees, if the principal or employer has not taken reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to prevent these acts (under D.D.A. section 123). Section 123 of the D.D.A. provides that an employer is liable for unlawful acts by agents or employees unless the employer has exercised “due diligence” and taken “reasonable precautions” to avoid the unlawful act. An employment recruitment agency, for example, would be an agent under Section 123. This provision applies to any actions within the “actual or apparent authority” of the employee, agent or director. In such cases the employer would bear the onus of demonstrating that reasonable precautions had been taken and due diligence exercised. The D.D.A. does not define what constitutes due diligence or reasonable precautions. The Federal Court has held that the concepts of rea
