CACI No. 2902. Negligence - Assignment of Employees
Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2023 edition)
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2902.Negligence - Assignment of Employees
[Name of defendant] was negligent if
[it assigned [name of plaintiff/decedent] to a task that it knew or
should have known [he/she/nonbinary pronoun] was not medically fit
to perform.]
[it failed to assign a sufficient number of employees to safely
perform the task that [name of plaintiff/decedent] was assigned to at
the time of the incident.]
New September 2003
Directions for Use
Read only the alternative that applies to the facts of the case.
Sources and Authority
• “The court correctly instructed the jury as to defendant’s liability for assigning
an employee to a job for which he is medically unfit. In this regard the jury was
told that ‘Under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, the word “injury” may
include sickness, and it is negligence for a railroad company to assign a sick
employee, of whose illness it knew or should have known, to tasks for which he
is, by reason of his condition, unfitted, and the employee may recover damages
from the railroad if such assignment plays any part in proximately worsening or
aggravating such condition.’ ” (Waller v. Southern Pacific Co. (1967) 66 Cal.2d
201, 214 [57 Cal.Rptr. 353, 424 P.2d 937].)
• It is not necessary to include as an element that the defendant must have
“forced” the plaintiff to perform the injurious task. (Waller, supra, 66 Cal.2d at
p. 214.)
• “The employer is under the nondelegable obligation of providing sufficient help
for the particular task.” (Southern Ry. Co. v. Welch (6th Cir. 1957) 247 F.2d 340,
341, internal citation omitted.)
• “As a corollary to this duty to maintain safe working conditions, the carrier is
required to provide its employee with sufficient help in the performance of the
work assigned to him. Where the failure to provide sufficient help proximately
causes injury to the employee, the carrier is liable for negligence under the
provisions of the FELA.” (Yawn v. Southern Ry. Co. (5th Cir. 1979) 591 F.2d
312, 315, internal citations omitted.)
Secondary Sources
42 California Forms of Pleading and Practice, Ch. 485, Railroads, § 485.35
(Matthew Bender)
177
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