Topic of Negligence

Tina Smith is a Business graduate who has been successful in her application for a job as Market Research Analyst for a small firm called BrightSolutions owned by partners Jane and Brenda.

Tina enjoys working for the business and the company of her colleagues but begins to feel uncomfortable when some of them start to tease her about different aspects of her appearance. Tina asks her colleagues to stop the teasing, but they snigger and tell her "she should smile more". Tina speaks to her manager enquiring about workplace policy she should follow to register a complaint about her colleagues' behaviour. To Tina's horror, the manager informs her that the business does not have a policy that clearly outlines what is acceptable workplace conduct or how complaints can be made and then investigated. The manager does however agree to speak to Tina's colleagues and the teasing stops. Chrissie is concerned that without a clear workplace policies the teasing could happen again and escalate to bullying.

Create an email on behalf of Tina to Jane and Brenda the owners of BrightSolutions explaining the common law of Negligence. Your email should explain why it is important for BrightSolutions to develop clear policies and actions to protect their employees from careless and harmful behaviour like bullying and harassment.

Your email must address the following:

Define the law of negligence outlining elements to be proven against a defendant for a successful claim

- Explain the relevance of vicarious liability to businesses such as BrightSolutions

- Describe the outcome of a successful negligence claim against a businesses like BrightSolutions

- Discuss the defences a business may raise against a negligence claim

- List some steps BrightSolutions can take to avoid a negligence lawsuit

- Cite and briefly describe a negligence case pursued through the courts in Australia which demonstrates the negative impact such claims can have on individuals and/or businesses like BrightSolutions