Scope of employment is the legal consideration of the various activities which may occur in the performance of a person's job, especially those acts which are reasonable relative to the job description and foreseeable by the employer.
Key examples of this consideration under US law can include tort liability of the employer due to a duty to supervise or control the employee. If a security guard harms a customer in a retail store, a court may consider if the employee's harmful acts were foreseeable by the employer to the point that the employer should have instituted reasonable precautions to prevent the resulting harm. Extreme examples would likely find the employer is liable for the employee using a gun which was permitted on the job, but perhaps not if strict instructions against carrying guns on the job had been given to the employee who ignored them.
Famous quotes containing the words scope of, scope and/or employment:
“Every person is responsible for all the good within the scope of his abilities, and for no more, and none can tell whose sphere is the largest.”
—Gail Hamilton (1833–1896)
“In the works of man, everything is as poor as its author; vision is confined, means are limited, scope is restricted, movements are labored, and results are humdrum.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)
“The boatmen appeared to lead an easy and contented life, and we thought that we should prefer their employment ourselves to many professions which are much more sought after. They suggested how few circumstances are necessary to the well-being and serenity of man, how indifferent all employments are, and that any may seem noble and poetic to the eyes of men, if pursued with sufficient buoyancy and freedom.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)