BC court finds employer’s “structural environment” sufficient to ground vicarious liability claim for privacy violations

The issue of vicarious liability of an employer for privacy breaches perpetrated by a rogue employee is increasingly before the Courts. The British Columbia Supreme Court previously found that an employer was vicariously liable for the actions of a rogue employee because the employer created the risk of wrongdoing by providing access to customers’ personal information and not setting monitoring mechanisms to prevent misuse (see our previous post on Ari v Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, here).

The new class action certification case of Burke v Red Barn at Mattick’s Ltd, 2023 BCSC 367 provides some further guidance on the elements that a Court may consider in determining vicarious liability. Read here.