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Who is Liable?
An employer may be liable for negligent hiring if:

The company knows the employee is unfit, or has reason to believe the employee is unfit or fails to use reasonable care to discover the employee's unfitness before hiring him. Evan F. v. Hughson United Methodist Church (1992) 8 Cal.App.4th 823, 843.

The Plaintiff demonstrates that the authentication of the unfit employee's credentials would have shown the unfitness thereby precluding the unfit employee's employment. Roman Catholic Bishop v. Superior Court (1996) 42 Cal.App.4th 1556, 1566.

An employer having no other reasonable basis upon which to believe an applicant is unfit, may avoid liability if it takes reasonable steps to authenticate the applicant's credentials.

What are the Consequences?

  Nursing home liable for $235,000 for negligent hiring of unlicensed nurse, with 56     prior criminal convictions, who assaulted 80-year-old visitor; Deerings West     Nursing Center v. Scott

  Employee with criminal record forces child to perform oral sex; $1.75 million award     for negligent hiring and retention; Doe v. MCLO

  Company liable for $2.5 million for negligent hiring and retention of deliveryman     who savagely attacked woman customer in her home; Tallahassee Furniture Co.,     Inc. v. Harrison

  Employer settles for $2.5 million suit seeking to hold it liable for negligent hiring     and entrustment of intoxicated security guard who had on-duty traffic accident in     company car which killed himself and another motorist; Butler v. Hertz Corp

How are Your Peers Reducing Liability?
A 2003 study by Virginia-based Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) revealed that 80 percent of the companies surveyed performed reference and criminal checks on their employees.