Liability of employer for acts of its agents

Under section 109(2) EA 10, an employer is also liable for acts by its agents. The law says that anything done by an agent for a principal with their authority must be treated as also done by the principal. The fact that the act is done without the principal’s knowledge or approval is irrelevant.

Unlike the liability of an employer for the acts of its employees, there is no “reasonable steps” defence available to an organisation when discrimination is carried out by its agent (see page 175). Instead the organisation will be liable for all discriminatory acts by its agent, regardless of the steps taken to prevent the discrimination. A contract worker, or the employee of an outsourcing company will not normally be the agent of the organisation where they are assigned to work (see Kemeh v Ministry of Defence [2014] IRLR 377, summarised on page 152).