Why is vicarious liability imposed?

One of the reasons is that the employer is in control of the conduct of employees,
and therefore should be responsible for their acts. Besides, employers benefit from
the work of their employees, and so ought to be liable for any damage the
employee may cause in its performance. It would be very unfair if employees were
sued for negligence when effectively they had been forced to be negligent by a
cost-cutting employer, who would thereby profit from their negligence. In addition,
an employer will be in the best financial position to meet a claim, either because its
resources are simply greater than those of an individual employee, or, because it
has relevant insurance cover. The next reason for the imposition of vicarious
liability is to prevent negligent recruitment. It has been suggested that commission
of a tort by an employee implies that the employer was negligent in selecting that
employee, and incurs liability on that basis. Besides this, there is some evidence
that this would encourage the employers to take care to prevent work practices that
could result in accidents.