Liability

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Esthy

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I am in need of ASAP answer, please: who is responsible/liable for an electrical mistake, shoddy work , etc., the Electrical Contractor or the employee Electrician under him (EC)
 
You are asking a legal question to non attorney's so I think you should take any answer cautiously.

That being said I don't kmnow why you have the EC or the emploee under him (EC). I don't understand the difference. Is this subbed out or is the EC's employee who you are talking about?

I will tell you this- in a lawsuit they will sue everyone possible and since the EC is responsible for the job and generally has the most money then it is the EC they will go after. I have always understood I am responsible for my mens screw ups
 
There is no simple answer to this question. Much depends on many things. Was the electrician fully qualified and licensed or was he/she a trainee? Who was assigned to supervise the project? What is the relationship between the company and the electrician (i.e., full time regular employee or contract employee)? Does the company have a QC policy that includes inspection of completed work? Does the company provide training to its employees? Was the problem discovered during the installation or after it was turned over to the owner? Who is saying that the work was done poorly, and is that person qualified to make that judgement?

I could go on. But let me present the single most important question: Is your question related to an actual event for which a lawsuit is under consideration, or for which there is some other pending legal dispute? If so, then I must close this thread. The forum rules do not allow the membership to answer questions related to legal disputes.
 
Esthy said:
I am in need of ASAP answer, please: who is responsible/liable for an electrical mistake, shoddy work , etc., the Electrical Contractor or the employee Electrician under him (EC)
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The Electrician is responsible for performing the work following accepted procedures/practices.

The Electrical Contractor (Boss) is responsible for providing directions/instructions to the Electrician about the work to be done.
So what is the nature of the screwup ? Incomplete direction from the Boss ? Or confusion on the Electrician's part ? Wrong voltage applied to equipment ? Sloppy workmanship ?
 
No, nothing happened. I have an offer from a non-profit organization to work as an electrician and as an electrical administrator UNDER their electrical contractor license, but I have to close my own electrical contractor license because in WA I cannot work as an electrical administrator for more than one company, but this bring me to question my l?ability in jobs that this organization will perform, as they don't have the funds to do the "right repair". As an example: went to do an emergency wiring repairs in a septic pump, put it to work, but it needs extensive electrical repair and my recommendation is to pull a permit and do the right repair, but there is no money for that, so if I leave in this way and something happened ... Who is liable here, the Electrical Contractor or the electrician?
OF COURSE, if I am working as an electrical contractor, then I will liable. Sorry, but as I note in my previus posts my English is a challenge, please bear with me in this. I am glad that someone from Seattle posted me
 
If you are the Electrical Contractor, look at your insurance policy with regard to "indemnity". When I was, my policy indemnified me (meaning I was covered for) the actions of those acting in agency for me, meaning either as employees or sub contractors to me. What that means is that if my employee blundered, I was responsible, and the insurance coverage I had purchased for my business recognized that and would cover me for it. Whether or not I would seek retribution from him was another issue between me and him...

If you are the EMPLOYEE, responsibility is kind a nebulous thing in that it involves who will PAY for it. If your employer is indemnified by his liability insurance policy, then they pay. But again, he is free to seek compensation from you, which you can fight or not.

In the case of gross criminal negligence, totally different issue.
 
Esthy said:
No, nothing happened. I have an offer from a non-profit organization to work as an electrician and as an electrical administrator UNDER their electrical contractor license, but I have to close my own electrical contractor license because in WA I cannot work as an electrical administrator for more than one company, but this bring me to question my l?ability in jobs that this organization will perform, as they don't have the funds to do the "right repair". As an example: went to do an emergency wiring repairs in a septic pump, put it to work, but it needs extensive electrical repair and my recommendation is to pull a permit and do the right repair, but there is no money for that, so if I leave in this way and something happened ... Who is liable here, the Electrical Contractor or the electrician?
OF COURSE, if I am working as an electrical contractor, then I will liable. Sorry, but as I note in my previus posts my English is a challenge, please bear with me in this. I am glad that someone from Seattle posted me
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pretty straighforward, from my point of view anyway....

they want you to apply cheese whiz to their bobo's, and make
them go away, for no money. it doesn't work like that.

if you, working as a sparky, do something not to code, knowingly,
you are PERSONALLY liable for what you did, especially in the event
someone is injured. that's how it works in calif. anyway, and i'm
suspecting it'll work that way for you.

why would you want to take this liabilty on? if something really bad
happens, as a result of what you have done, irregardless of whose
direction you did it under, you are gonna get hosed.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hosed
 
Esthy said:
....as they don't have the funds to do the "right repair". As an example: went to do an emergency wiring repairs in a septic pump, put it to work, but it needs extensive electrical repair and my recommendation is to pull a permit and do the right repair, but there is no money for that,
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Personally that doesn not sound like a company I would want to be involved with. No money to do it right? No money so dodgeing permits and doing an incorrect repair??? Regardless of liability issues that just sounds really unsatisfying.......
 
This organization provides free repairs for low income seniors, the money comes from government grants and it applies small amounts to each residence, so there is no enough money for major repairs, it is a heart breaking situation as these seniors have nothing almost at the end of their existence. I want to help but also I look very carefully the l?ability issue as when an individual is very poor and have nothing to lose can create problems. I hope we can create nationwide a system to help those grandfathers to have a better life at the end, at least electrically for safety.
 
Esthy said:
This organization provides free repairs for low income seniors, the money comes from government grants and it applies small amounts to each residence, so there is no enough money for major repairs, it is a heart breaking situation as these seniors have nothing almost at the end of their existence. I want to help but also I look very carefully the l?ability issue as when an individual is very poor and have nothing to lose can create problems. I hope we can create nationwide a system to help those grandfathers to have a better life at the end, at least electrically for safety.
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I would think the contracting business would have liability insurance and that would cover all the employees as well (Washington doesn't actually require EC's to have insurance, just the 4K bond but u prob know that) so that is some peace of mind. Also if the business is a corporation, individuals have a lot of personal liability protection.
 
Esthy said:
No, nothing happened. I have an offer from a non-profit organization to work as an electrician and as an electrical administrator UNDER their electrical contractor license, but I have to close my own electrical contractor license because in WA I cannot work as an electrical administrator for more than one company, but this bring me to question my l?ability in jobs that this organization will perform, as they don't have the funds to do the "right repair". As an example: went to do an emergency wiring repairs in a septic pump, put it to work, but it needs extensive electrical repair and my recommendation is to pull a permit and do the right repair, but there is no money for that, so if I leave in this way and something happened ... Who is liable here, the Electrical Contractor or the electrician?
OF COURSE, if I am working as an electrical contractor, then I will liable. Sorry, but as I note in my previus posts my English is a challenge, please bear with me in this. I am glad that someone from Seattle posted me
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So your from Washington State & I thought of Bill Gates. But it seems from a quick review that Global problems are his focus.


http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-...k/General-Information/Grant-Seeking-Resources
 
When I worked for a friend of mine, he was a master and had a llc we were subbed by a home warranty co. and we found its good to email at least 2 people above us every time something didn't seem right. Copy everyone every time. If there's something being done that isn't right they ll move on to an ec that doesn't know what's really going on.
 
electricalist, I like your replay and I will do as you said and it will happens as you said ... already happened in one of the jobs and a handyman was sent!
 
Glad I could help, as well as copy more than one person so the person is responsible. BCC is blind copy ,which means nobody sees that one, I send that one to my boss that way he is aware and can step in if he feels he needs to.
 
That's terrible.
I can only speak for myself,there are things in the code book that I don't understand but I do them because they are the rules of my trade.
My 2 nd year I went to a call of a timer not working..the mechanical gear was bad. It was one with no neutral. On our truck we had one that required a neutral. So I used the ground wire to make It work. For that moment. I go to the shop to get the right one. The boss says what's up, I told him and he jumped up pushing the desk ,grabbed me by my shirt under my chin and said if you ever do that again I will find you and break your neck.
Scared the crap out of me.
 
electricalist said:
That's terrible.
I can only speak for myself,there are things in the code book that I don't understand but I do them because they are the rules of my trade.
My 2 nd year I went to a call of a timer not working..the mechanical gear was bad. It was one with no neutral. On our truck we had one that required a neutral. So I used the ground wire to make It work. For that moment. I go to the shop to get the right one. The boss says what's up, I told him and he jumped up pushing the desk ,grabbed me by my shirt under my chin and said if you ever do that again I will find you and break your neck.
Scared the crap out of me.
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:)

There are, AFAIK, no rules in the NEC related to neck breaking, but I think that the area where you got scared would be rated as a wet area.
 
I didn't realize what I was doing was wrong, but that's the day I realized the nec codes are the rules of my trade,I comply even when I don't why.
The timer was for a pool.
I'm lucky I'm not the electrician in the link.
 
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