Historic Legislation Extending Vicarious Liability

The Victorian parliament has finally passed retrospective legislation extending vicarious liability to cover people in roles akin to employment. 

This legislation was passed in response to a High Court decision which reaffirmed that vicarious liability of organisations only applies in relation to conduct which occurs in the course of employment after accepting  the Catholic Church's arguments that priests were not employees.

This meant that a child could be abused by a lay teacher in a Catholic school and the Church/religious entity could be held liable but if the child was abused by a priest in exactly the same circumstances, there could be no liability because priests were not employees. 

In addition, other organisations could escape liability on this basis including the Department of Defence which argues that service men and women are not employees because they serve at the prerogative of the Crown, the Scouts etc.

The Victorian Government is to be commended for passing this further important piece of legislative reform in the child abuse space. We call on other state Governments, including the Tasmanian Government, to take similar action.