Question

Principle: An employer is liable for an injury caused to an employee in the course of the employment.
Facts: ‘A’ and ‘B’ were working in a factory as unskilled laborers. A was carrying a basket of stones on his head. B was sitting on the ground. When A crossed B, all of a sudden a stone fell down from the basket and hit B on his head. B died instantaneously.

• A. The employer will be liable
• B. The employer will not be liable
• C. A will be liable
• D. Both employer and A will be liable

Hint:

Employers are always liable for accidents that occur during the course of their employee's work.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

According to the principle, an employer is responsible for the injuries caused to an employee while they are performing their duties in the course of employment. In this case, ‘A’ was carrying stones as part of his work, and the accident occurred during the course of his employment, resulting in ‘B’s death. The employer is legally liable for any injury or death resulting from the employee's work, as it occurred during the work process.
Thus, the correct answer is (A). The employer is liable for the injury caused during the course of employment.
Option (B) is incorrect because the employer is always responsible for accidents that occur during the course of employment. Option (C) is incorrect because although A is directly involved, the employer holds the responsibility for accidents in the workplace. Option (D) is incorrect because the employer’s liability takes precedence over the individual actions of the worker in this context.

Answer 2

This question checks whether an accidental injury caused by one co-worker to another during ordinary work duties triggers the employer's liability under the principle. Let's examine each option.

1. The employer will be liable: The principle makes an employer liable for injury caused to an employee in the course of employment. B was working as a laborer at the time, and the accident, a stone falling from A's basket while A carried out his assigned work, occurred squarely during the course of that employment. Since the injury to B arose directly out of work being performed on the employer's premises during working hours, liability falls on the employer.
2. The employer will not be liable: This would only be correct if the injury occurred outside the course of employment, but both A and B were performing their ordinary job duties when the accident happened, which is exactly the situation the principle places on the employer.
3. A will be liable: The principle as stated fixes liability on the employer for injuries occurring in the course of employment; it does not carve out individual co-worker liability for an accidental, non-deliberate act performed while doing assigned work.
4. Both employer and A will be liable: This splits liability in a way the principle does not support, since the rule as given attributes responsibility to the employer for such workplace injuries rather than sharing it with the individual employee who was performing his duties.

Because B's injury occurred while both men were carrying out their normal work for the factory, the accident falls within the course of employment, and the principle places responsibility on the employer.

Therefore, the correct answer is The employer will be liable.

Answer 3

The principle conditions employer liability on two elements holding together: an injury to an employee, and that injury occurring in the course of employment. Checking the facts against both elements for each option.

1. The employer will be liable: B was an employee, satisfying element one directly, since he died from the injury. The stone fell while A was carrying out his assigned task of carrying stones during working hours at the factory, so the accident falls within the course of employment, satisfying element two. Both elements point to the employer.
2. The employer will not be liable: This would require element two to fail, the injury occurring outside the course of employment. But both A and B were performing their ordinary factory duties when the stone fell, so the injury arose squarely within the course of employment, and this option cannot be reconciled with that.
3. A will be liable: The principle as framed fixes the two elements, injury plus course of employment, onto the employer's liability, not onto a co-worker's individual liability for an accidental act performed while doing his job. Assigning liability to A steps outside what the two elements actually establish.
4. Both employer and A will be liable: Splitting liability this way adds A into a framework that, on these two elements, attaches responsibility to the employer alone; the principle doesn't provide for a shared outcome between the employer and the individual employee performing routine work.

Both elements, an employee's injury and its occurrence during the course of employment, are satisfied here, and the principle channels that combination into the employer's liability.

Therefore, the correct answer is The employer will be liable.