The Convergence of Sexual Harassment Workplace Claims and Evolving Vicarious Liability Jurisprudence

Abstract

The recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer’s vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus pointThe recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer’s vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus pointThe recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer’s vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus pointThe recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer’s vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus pointThe recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer’s vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus pointThe recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer’s vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus pointThe recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer’s vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus pointThe recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer’s vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus pointThe recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer’s vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus point.