The Judicial Interpretation Improvement on Employer’s Vicarious Liability under the Civil Code of ChinaAnd on Legal Application of Vicarious Liability Involving Employment Relationships Formed in Online Platform

Article 15 of the Interpretation on the Book of Tort Liability of the Civil Code (I) places “labor service relationship of employing entity” and “employing relationship of individual-run industrial and commercial households” within the scope of the “employer entity”, where vicarious liability as stipulated in Article 1191, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Code of China shall be applied. However, it fails to clarify the rule of legal application for vicarious liability of employing relationships formed on online platforms. Articles 1191 to 1193 of the Civil Code of China establish a trichotomy of employment relationships: labor relationship based on employer entity, individual labor service relationship, and independent contracting relationship. It is necessary to center on Article 1191, Paragraph 1, to rectify the absence of vicarious liability rules for labor service relationships of employing entities. Article 1192 should be used as the basis to construct the legal application framework for vicarious liability in employing relationships of individual-run industrial and commercial households, while Article 1193 should form the legal application framework for vicarious liability in employing relationships on online platforms.