Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 838.0

524US2

Unit: U100

[09-15-00 14:43:08] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 524 U. S. 775 (1998)

793

Opinion of the Court

B

The Court of Appeals identiﬁed, and rejected, three pos-
sible grounds drawn from agency law for holding the City
vicariously liable for the hostile environment created by
It considered whether the two supervisors
the supervisors.
were acting within the scope of their employment when they
engaged in the harassing conduct. The court then enquired
whether they were signiﬁcantly aided by the agency rela-
tionship in committing the harassment, and also considered
the possibility of imputing Gordon’s knowledge of the harass-
ment to the City. Finally, the Court of Appeals ruled out
liability for negligence in failing to prevent the harassment.
Faragher relies principally on the latter three theories of
liability.

1

A “master is subject to liability for the torts of his serv-
ants committed while acting in the scope of their employ-
ment.” Restatement § 219(1). This doctrine has tradition-
ally deﬁned the “scope of employment” as including conduct
“of the kind [a servant] is employed to perform,” occurring
“substantially within the authorized time and space limits,”
and “actuated, at least in part, by a purpose to serve the
master,” but as excluding an intentional use of force “un-
expectable by the master.”

Id., § 228(1).

Courts of Appeals have typically held, or assumed, that
conduct similar to the subject of this complaint falls outside
the scope of employment. See, e. g., Harrison, 112 F. 3d,
at 1444 (sexual harassment “ ‘simply is not within the job
description of any supervisor or any other worker in any
reputable business’ ”); 111 F. 3d, at 1535–1536 (case below);
Andrade v. Mayfair Management, Inc., 88 F. 3d 258, 261
(CA4 1996) (“[I]llegal sexual harassment is . . . beyond the
scope of supervisors’ employment”); Gary, 59 F. 3d, at 1397
(harassing supervisor acts outside the scope of his employ-