Can a union be vicariously liable for an employee’s actions?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Mainland Sawmills Ltd. v. USW Union Local - 1-3567, 2007 BCSC 1433 (CanLII):
Under the Salmond test, employers are vicariously liable for “(1) employee acts authorized by the employer; or (2) unauthorized acts so connected with authorized acts that they may be regarded as modes (albeit improper modes) of doing an unauthorized act”: Bazley v. Curry, ¶10. The plaintiffs’ position, as I understand it, is that the Union is vicariously liable under either branch of this test, because (1) the wrongdoing was organized and carried out by the guiding minds of the Union, and subsequently ratified, and (2) the wrongful acts were sufficiently related to the conduct authorized by the Union.
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