Which defense argues that employees willingly took on risks associated with their job?

The defense that argues employees willingly took on the risks associated with their job is the assumption of risk. This legal doctrine is based on the principle that if a person voluntarily exposes themselves to a known danger or accepts the inherent risks of an activity, they may be barred from recovering damages should they suffer injury as a result of that risk. This is particularly relevant in employment contexts, where certain jobs involve inherent dangers that the employee understands and accepts when they agree to take the job.

For instance, a construction worker is aware of the risks associated with working on a site and, by taking the job, is seen as having accepted those risks, thus limiting the employer's liability in case an accident occurs due to those risks.

This concept distinguishes itself from other defenses such as contributory negligence, which focuses on the employee's own negligence contributing to an injury, or comparative negligence, which assesses the relative fault of both the employee and employer. The fellow servant rule pertains to the idea of responsibility amongst co-employees rather than the acceptance of risk by the employee in the context of their work environment.