What is Negligent Hiring?
The legal theory of Negligent Hiring is based on the premise that an employer can be liable for the violent acts or wrongdoings of its employees if it did not investigate adequately their backgrounds or qualifications. Negligent hiring claims often involve employees both who are in a position to pose a threat of injury to the public (such as a driver or delivery person) or who subsequently attack another employee or an outside third party (such as a client or customer). The employers legal liability typically depends on the circumstances leading up to the employees misconduct and on whether the employee was acting within the scope of his employment duties.
Negligent hiring is defined as an employer’s failure to exercise reasonable caution when hiring an employee. Today, courts are increasingly holding employers financially and legally responsible for illegal or violent actions by employees who were not subjected to reasonable pre-employment screening. Basically, the courts are declaring that the employer is legally responsible for what they know and what they should have known about their employees. If an employee causes harm to another employee or customer, and the employer knows or should have known that the individual was a risk–the courts have found the companies liable–and can require the company to pay thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions to the plaintiff. Employers in negligent hiring cases lose over 70% of lawsuits.
In general, negligent hiring occurs when you knew, or should have known that an applicant had a past record and you did not check for it. It comes up when an employee, or in some circumstances an ex-employee, harms someone else where it would not have occurred except for the fact that this person was your employee. For example, if your employee has access to people’s homes and then burglarizes a customer, it may be negligent hiring if that employee had a criminal record that you could have discovered with a background check.
In general, negligent hiring occurs when you knew or should have known that an applicant had a past record and you did not check for it. It comes up when an employee, or in some circumstances an ex-employee, harms someone else where it would not have occurred except for the fact that this person was your employee. For example, if your employee has access to people’s homes and then burglarizes a customer, it may be negligent hiring if that employee had a criminal record that you could have discovered with a background check. Back to top of FAQ page 3.
