1Where an employee attends a location unconnected to a work event after the work event has concluded, and any alleged tortious conduct occurs during or after that attendance, the conduct lacks the functional, geographical and temporal connection to employment required to render the employer vicariously liable under the principles in Prince Alfred College Inc v ADC and CCIG Investments Pty Ltd v Schokman.
2Sections 198A and 198E of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), which provide for a company's business to be managed by its directors, do not render a corporate employer directly liable for every act of its sole director during work hours; the conduct must constitute an exercise of company power or the management of the business of the company, and personal misconduct such as sexual harassment does not meet that description.
3In a common law negligence claim for workplace sexual harassment, the plaintiff must establish what reasonable precautions the employer should have taken against an identified foreseeable risk; proof that a fellow employee engaged in wrongful conduct causing harm is not, without more, sufficient to establish breach of the employer's duty of care.
