Employer Liability For Environmental Crimes

• Law Firm: Waselius & Wist
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Criminal Law, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Professional Negligence, Crime
• Author: Mr Jouni Kautto
• Published date: 03 July 2023

Company liability

Under Finnish law, the employer is liable to compensate any third party for the loss or damage caused by an employee's mistake or omission. The employer's liability covers all employees, as well as independent contractors who work in similar positions to employees. The employer is liable even if the offender is never identified. It is sufficient to prove that damage was caused by a mistake or an omission by an employee and the employer would be liable to pay compensation.

The employer may not avoid the liability even by demonstrating that they:

• had given the employee proper instructions;
• supervised the employee's work; and
• in all other respects fulfilled its obligations.

Even if the employee had intentionally breached direct orders from the employer, the employer is liable to pay compensation to the third parties that have suffered loss due to employee's actions. For example, if an employee handles dangerous chemicals carelessly and the resulting spill causes damage, the employer is liable for the damage even if the employer had taken all potential precautions to avoid these types of accidents.

The employer avoids liability if the employee's actions have no connection with the employee's work duties. If a process engineer makes a mistake and wastewater ends up in the water course, the employer would be liable. But if an office worker sabotages the plant causing a similar leak, the employer would not be automatically liable for the damages as the accident is not related to the employee's work tasks.

The victim will always claim compensation from the employer first. The employee responsible for the act is only liable to pay compensation if the employee has caused the loss intentionally, by criminal act or if the victim has not been able to receive compensation from the employer. In practice, this means that unless the employee has intentionally caused the damage, the victim will turn to the employee only once the claim against the employer has proven to be unsuccessful. If the victim files a claim against the employee before the employer, the claim shall be dismissed as premature. If the employee has intentionally caused the damage, the victim is advised to file claims against both the employer and the employee as the employer is also liable for the compensation and is often more capable to pay the compensation.

Employer claiming compensation

If the employer has to pay compensation because an employee made a mistake, the employee is not...