What Is Negligent Hiring?

Michelle Wilson - June 30, 2023

Negligence in the workplace can lead to an array of negative outcomes. In the worst-case scenarios, carelessness could be detrimental to an entire business, such as an employee or customer getting hurt on account of the company not abiding by safety guidelines. Whether it be a small or big issue, negligence – especially if it’s repeated – could result in the downfall of a company. For this reason, it is important that nothing slips through the cracks, and that includes the background checks performed during the initial hiring process.

Making sure that an applicant is an ideal candidate for the position is obviously the most important part of hiring. As such, it is vital that employers and recruiters take the necessary steps to ensure that the applicant is who they say they are. Failure to do so could result in unhappy employees and a disappointed clientele, not to mention it could affect products and sales. For as damaging as those can be, it is nothing compared to what could happen in more serious cases. In the event that someone gets seriously hurt at the hands of an employee whose records were not looked into or verified, the company could be faced with an onslaught of negligent hiring claims.

An Overview of Negligent Hiring

Negligent hiring is a claim that can be brought against a company following an injury inflicted on someone due to that company failing to properly check its employees’ backgrounds to perform job responsibilities. This type of negligence can mostly stem from a business not doing the proper screening procedures prior to hiring an applicant. The effects of such carelessness can be damaging to a business, as well as setting in motion the possibility of litigation and reputational damage that is difficult to rectify.

There is an assortment of examples of negligent hiring claims, and they are not tied to a single type of industry, job, employer, work situation, or set of circumstances that result in injuries. Nevertheless, the results can be as equally harmful to a company. To make this concept clearer, imagine a situation where an employee – while at work – assaults a customer and they get injured from this attack. The injured patron might file a negligent hiring claim against the entire company. If the company failed to perform a background check on the employee’s criminal history, then the business could be found liable for the injury. Had they screened the employee, they would have been aware of their history of assault arrest(s) and/or conviction(s).

The Consequences of Negligent Hiring

The impact that negligent hiring usually has on an organization can be major. An employer rarely comes out on top in these cases, and the average settlement goes for thousands, even millions, of dollars. On top of the cost of these cases, a lawsuit can draw in a lot of outside attention and could lead to bad press for a company. With this kind of negativity attached to a business, a lot can be affected. This includes the company’s public reputation, its stock price, and even its general appeal to those with high-quality skills seeking employment.

Who is Liable?

In a lot of states, it is the employer that is deemed accountable for the results of negligent hiring, particularly when one of their employees inflicts harm on a customer or another third party. Likewise, when the employer either was aware of the risk the employee posed or should have been aware of it. Additionally, employers are liable in the event of an employee causing an injury and it could have been avoided if the employer conducted a background check on the employee and saw the potential harm. The victims of these incidents can – and most of the time will – file a negligent hiring claim against the employers for compensatory damages and sometimes even punitive damages. With that said, there are ways for an employer to evade being labeled as accountable based on a state’s negligent hiring laws. A notable example is performing state-authorized criminal background checks of applicants, which will consist of checking the candidate’s references and confirming their work history.

Most states will recognize a cause of action for negligent hiring, but much like other regulations and policies, the laws regarding certain liability standards will vary depending on the state. California law, for instance, states that employers will be held accountable if their negligence was one of the primary factors that led to the victim’s harm. However, in Rhode Island, the law does not put much focus on or test for the “substantial factor” and will impose liability simply because the employer did not put the appropriate amount of effort into hiring an employee that was fit for the job.

How to Avoid It

To sum up, negligent hiring is what derives from employing an applicant without looking deeper into the information they provide. There are people out there who will apply for a position using fabricated information on their job applications or resumes. While candidates will typically supply certain pieces of information about themselves on a job application (submitting a resume, cover letter, a list of references, etc.), they could also be omitting details that are significant for the job. Admittedly, some of the provided details that are less than truthful will not cause long-lasting harm to a company or recruitment agency. Be that as it may, it is still imperative that recruiters and employers do their research and uncover as much as they can about applicants before hiring them.

The best way to avoid any negligent hiring claims is to conduct a thorough background check on a candidate. Recruiters are advised to not simply refer the first candidate they find and should also perform a screening on the individual. They also need to interview them and conduct pre-employment testing to gather more information about them. Additional steps that should be taken to avoid any cases of negligent hiring include contacting the applicant’s previous employers and conducting an in-depth reference check on their past employment. Moreover, recruiters should insist on regular drug testing, implement credit reports, and verify the qualifications that the candidate claims on their resume and/or application, such as a college or university degree.

Conclusion

Negligent hiring will inevitably put a lot on the line. A company’s employees or customers could get hurt, profits could be stolen, and a business’s reputation could be tainted; perhaps irreversibly. As such, recruiters and employers need to take the proper precautions when evaluating applicants. There are many components involved when it comes to running a business that must be taken seriously and given sizable attention to, and the hiring process is among them.