Subcommittee advances bill letting juries decide employer liability for employee sexual assaults; hospitals and business groups oppose

A House subcommittee advanced legislation that would allow juries to decide whether employers or principals can be held civilly liable for intentional sexual assaults by employees or agents. The committee voted 7-1 to report the measure to the full committee.

Sponsor Delegate Delaney and bill counsel framed the bill as a statutory response to a recent Virginia Supreme Court trilogy that, they said, moved core questions of scope of employment out of the jury's hands. "We're creating a door where one has been shut," said a bill proponent, urging the subcommittee to restore a jury's ability to decide course-and-scope questions in cases alleging intentional sexual assaults.

Proponents emphasized the bill is not intended to impose strict liability. Counsel described the measure as a jury…