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You are at: VEOHRC > Information for Employers > Legal liability - who is responsible

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Legal Liability : Who is responsible

The organisation or company

In general, it is against the law for an employer to act in a discriminatory way. Liability (legal obligation) depends on the legal structure of your organisation and could rest with:

• the business owner
• the partners of your firm
• the company
• another person or people.

Vicarious liability: Responsibility for employees' behaviour

In general, employers are responsible for the behaviour of their employees, unless the employer can show that he or she took all 'reasonable precautions' to prevent discrimination or harassment from happening. For example, an employer could be legally liable for a complaint of racial discrimination, if management knew about it and did nothing. An employer could also be liable if the organisation's human resources department recruited staff in a way that discriminated against applicants on the basis of personal characteristics rather than their ability to do the job.

What are reasonable precautions?

What is considered a reasonable precaution will vary depending on the size and nature of the business and workplace. Reasonable precautions include:

• having appropriate equal opportunity policies in place
• ensuring all staff are aware of equal opportunity policies
• running ongoing education programs for all staff
• including equal opportunity information in all staff inductions.

Accessory liability

Any person who encouraged, authorised or assisted discrimination or harassment may also be liable.

Individual liability

The person responsible for the unlawful discrimination or harassment may also be legally liable.