Frolic

Activities performed by an employee during working hours that are not considered to be in the course of his or her employment, since they are for the employee's personal purposes only.

The doctrine of RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR makes a principal liable for the TORTS of his or her agent occurring during the course of employment. This is based on the concept that a principal has control over his or her agent's behavior. If an agent was hired to drive from point A to point B, and, through reckless driving, hit a pedestrian along the way, the principal would ordinarily be held liable. If, however, the agent was engaged in frolic, the principal would not be liable. This might occur, for example, if an employee were hired to transport goods from point A to point B and made several detours along the way for personal reasons. If the employee became involved in an accident while on a frolic, the employer would not be liable unless it could be established that he or she was negligent in the hiring or supervision of the employee.