The Supreme Court last week heard the supermarket chain Morrisons argue that it should not be held vicariously liable for its then in-house senior internal auditor publishing the personal data of almost 100,000 employees deliberately and without authorisation.
In seeking to overturn the judgment of the Court of Appeal that it is vicariously liable, Morrisons is arguing that the wrongful actions of its former in-house auditor were outside the scope of his job functions; and that there was no “sufficiently close connection” between those actions and the auditor’s employment. Both elements need to be present for an employer to be vicariously liable for an employee’s actions.