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26 U. Botswana L.J. 4 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/unbotslj26 and id is 1 raw text is: 4 The Convergence of Sexual Harassment Workplace Claims and Evolving Vicarious Liability Jurisprudence Chuks Okpaluba* and Anthony O. Nwafor** ABSTRACT The recent judgment of Pickering J in PE v Ikwezi Municipality has brought to the fore the inherent difficulties of adjudicating the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace on the one hand, and the imposition of liability on the employer arising from the conduct of one of its employees on the other. The law of sexual harassment, which offered little or no protection to the victim of such act at the workplace, has been rejuvenated by the values of human dignity, equality and freedom entrenched in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and judicially incorporated into the employer's vicarious liability. This article explores the convergence of the protection offered the victim by the law of sexual harassment and the extended protection offered by the modern law of vicarious liability using the recent Ikwezi Municipality case as a focus point. 1. INTRODUCTION There are two important aspects of the recent High Court judgment in PE v Ikwezi Municipality that require a more detailed attention. Both aspects stem from incidents that took place at the plaintiff's workplace. The plaintiff alleged that she was sexually harassed by the second defendant during the course of his duties at the first defendant's municipal offices. Thus, the first question arising from the encounter is whether the conduct complained of constituted sexual harassment and, if so, whether the second defendant was liable for the alleged sexual assault? The next question that follows the foregoing is whether the first defendant as the employer of the second defendant was vicariously liable for the alleged wrongful conduct of its employee? The * LLB LLM (London), PhD (West Indies), Adjunct Professor, Nelson Mandela School of Law, University of Fort Hare, South Africa. Email: Okpaluba@mweb.co.za ** LLB, LLM, (Nigeria), PhD (UniJos), BL, Professor, School of Law, University of Venda, South Africa. Email: Anthony.Nwafor@univen.ac.za 1 2016 (5) SA 114 (ECG)

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