Negligent Hiring Employers have a duty of care in protecting the public, their staff and their clients from the intentional acts of their employees. Failure to do so, when an employer knew or should have known through a reason-able effort that an employee had a demon-strated dangerous history, is called negli-gent hiring. Casual hiring practices could ultimately result in civil liability that could damage a business beyond financial repair. The judgments run in the millions of dollars and are not covered by liability insurance. The courts have ruled that employers have an obligation to make their work envi-ronment safe. An employee with a conviction for assault represents a ticking time bomb that will eventually explode while on your payroll. Workplace harassment is an illegal act, and an employer can be dragged into a lawsuit for failure to act properly with someone that should never have been hired to begin with. Traditionally, small businesses are most vulnerable. When just a few people have overlapping responsibilities and work closely together, a false sense of security develops. After the business has been looted, the non-monetary pain is that the perpetrator was viewed as “a member of the family.” An employee with a history of theft should never be given the keys to the safe. Employers have a duty of care in protect-ing the public, their staff and their clients. Image courtesy of moodboard/Thinkstock There are additional limitations on what can be reported in California and other states. Compliance with these laws is not op-tional, as many shocked employers have found when utilizing online criminal record services that are not suitable for employ-ment purposes. undocumented workers to chief executive officers (CEOs). Desperate economic times and a shrink-ing job market contribute to situations where people go to extreme and outright fraudulent means in order to get jobs. Bad behavior becomes easy to rationalize during difficult economic times. One national study showed that half of all reference checks done on prospective employees differed between what the job applicant provided and what the source re-ported. These are not just “fibs” anymore. When an employer hires someone with a falsified academic or employment record they are paying for talent that they’re not re-ceiving. These lies can cost a business dearly in the lack of skills and training that will never become part of the finished product. Undocumented Workforce such a broad brush could be considered a discriminatory act. A possible solution for an otherwise qual-ity applicant would be not placing them in an unsupervised environment where those past actions could possibly be repeated. The hiring of undocumented workers has taken an entirely new turn with the creation of Immigration Control Enforcement (ICE). In the recent past, legal right-to-work en-forcement was sporadic and focused pri-marily on the individual workers. Now owners, officers and hiring manag-ers are being criminally charged under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organi-zations Act (RICO). The federal government now contends that overtly hiring undocumented workers com-prises a criminal conspiracy to break the law. With the advent of the electronic E-Verify system, the acceptance of the counterfeit documents purchased at the flea market is no longer a defensible position for an em-ployer. The help of a professional investigator and these tools can assist any size business in minimizing their exposure to liability, re-maining compliant while reducing fraud and maintaining a legal workforce. CM Substance Abuse Substance abuse in the workplace is a na-tional epidemic without any social or eco-nomic boundaries. The habitual drug user has increased ab-senteeism and causes more workplace ac-cidents that drive up the Workers’ Compen-sation experience modifier rates. The quality of their work is not their pri-mary concern, and they very well may be soliciting while on the job. There is no upside to hiring someone with a drug addiction problem. Testing methods include the traditional urinalysis, hair samples or instant oral swabs. A solid substance abuse policy allows you to administer reasonable suspicion drug testing that will hold up to litigation. Every workplace accident needs a drug test, which could eliminate claims for Work-ers’ Comp or unemployment benefits. Criminal Records While background screening can’t predict the future, it certainly will uncover the dem-onstrated past behavior that an employer is held responsible for. Should employment be denied for any conviction as an example of a flawed char-acter? Absolutely not, as we are a nation that be-lieves in second chances, and painting with Credential Fraud Workplace fraud occurs at all levels, from Alfred Firato is a licensed CA Private Investigator (#25313) and the president of Data Research Network Inc. dba: HireSafe, estab-lished in 1997. HireSafe is a nationwide provider of pre-employment criminal background checks, drug testing and Form I-9 document management with E-Verify. Learn more at www.HireSafe.com or call (888) 792-4473. www.cmmonline.com 41
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