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Employers: Make Sure You Don’t End Up Paying For Your Employee’s Crimes

How Your Worker's Crime May Make You Pay
When an employer hires an candidate “blindly” they can be held liable for crimes by an employee, contractor or subcontractor. This applies even if the crimes appear to have no connection with the workers' jobs.

Unfortunately, the quickest way to check an employee's background--calling the references on the application--is not always the most effective. Many times when applicants list references, they only give names of people they expect to give them a favorable reference.  Employers need to take a pro-active attitude towards screening a prospective employee. It is advisable to hire a professional pre-employment screening company such as Accu-Screen, Inc. With 14 years of experience conducting pre-employment background and criminal records screens, they can produce the most accurate, factual information to help a company hire safe, qualified candidates.

It is essential that an employer conduct a professional pre-employment screen in order to avoid these situations:

• When an Oregon construction company sent a worker to a customer's home on a routine remodeling chore, it had no idea that the employee would commit a crime--or that the firm would wind up in court accused of liability for the worker's misdeed. After leaving the customer's home to draw up plans, the employee stopped first at his boat to prepare himself for the task by taking a hallucinogenic drug. He then saw a house where he mistakenly thought a former friend was living, broke in and sexually assaulted a woman. The victim sued the company.

• In Florida, a condominium manager hired a maintenance man after only a cursory check of the applicant's references. The employee used his pass key to enter one of the company's condominiums and he attacked a woman there. The victim sued the employer, contending the company failed to discover that the worker had been under psychiatric care and had been convicted of crimes that included breaking and entering and assault with intent to kill. Florida's appellate court ruled that the employer could be held responsible for the victim's injuries because it had failed to inquire into the applicant's criminal record and medical history.

Why Your Worker's Crime May Cost You

In the past courts held employers liable for employees' bad behavior. It had to be shown that when the crime was committed, the employee clearly was acting within the scope of employment. But if actions were seriously criminal, the employer usually could argue successfully that the company was not liable because the crimes were not committed in connection with the job. No pun intended, but this is no longer the case. In recent years, courts increasingly have held the employer responsible for the employee's crimes regardless of whether it fell within the scope of the job. Often, the injured party advances the legal theory of "negligent hiring," claiming the employer knew, or should have known, that the person hired was dangerous. The employer can be held liable, in effect, for failing to discover warning signs in the employee's past. For example:

• In a Minnesota case, an apartment-complex tenant sued the owner after being assaulted by the complex's manager, a parolee with a criminal record. The manager had supplied two references that checked out fine--and later were found to be his mother and his sister. Like many job applicants, the apartment manager simply had not given names of anyone likely to tell the truth about him. The woman was awarded $90,000 for injuries.

It’s easy to see why an employer should screen prospective employees as carefully as possible, both to protect the public and to avoid losing a negligent-hiring suit. This is especially important for employees who are likely to come into contact with the public or to be entrusted with money or property belonging to others. Take the first step towards avoiding a “negligent hiring” claim.  Contact Accu-Screen, Inc. at  www.accuscreen.com
to get more information on how to conduct a throrough employee background screen.