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"33 percent of all employment applications have been falsified or misrepresented." - The Wall Street Journal.
"Homicide is the leading cause of death for women in the workplace, and the second leading cause of death for men." - United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics, 1995.
"Three million violent crimes and thefts occur annually in the workplace." - U.S. Justice Department.
"Crime and theft cause 500,000 victims to lose an estimated 1.8 million workdays annually." - U.S. Justice Department.
"About 2 million people a year were victims of violent crimes or threatened violent crime in the workplace from 1992 through 1996." - Justice Department Bureau of Justice Statistics.
"Workplace murders account for over 16% of fatal occupational injuries." - Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It is no secret that your employees are the critical front line of your business. Every business owner strives to employ a team of individuals who will best represent the company's values. Unfortunately, in today's society, picking the best person at face value from a stack of applications can place you, your staff and your clientele at risk. So how did we end up in this mess? Do you remember a time when background checks were not a routine part of the hiring process? Back in the day, an employer would take a job application from a prospective employee, conduct a job interview, and maybe talk to a few references. That was it. No in-depth checking of history such as criminal records, credit or MVR was conducted except for very high-level executive positions. Over the past decade, this has changed with a series of landmark cases that quickly are setting precedence and routinely putting the employer against the courts in defense of their hiring decisions. It clearly has been decided that employers must exercise a reasonable amount of "due diligence" in their hiring practices to avoid "negligent hiring" lawsuits.
Negligent hiring is defined as "the hiring of a person who the "employer" knows or should have known was unfit for a particular position." If an employer becomes aware of circumstances in an employee's private life that would suggest the employee is unfit for his or her position, the employer could face certain liabilities for negligently retaining that individual. Because of this, litigation in the field of human resources fast is becoming an important area of concern.
If an employee has demonstrated past acts of misconduct, this could lead to "employer's negligence." One such instance might be Joe Truck Driver has a history of drinking on the job. He gets in the truck to make a delivery after having a few beers and causes an accident on the roadway. The employer had prior knowledge that the employee had been fired from a previous job for drinking or alcoholism. This could constitute negligence on behalf of the employer.
More and more employers are being held responsible for the willful misconduct of their employees. Since the early 1980s, negligent hiring/retention lawsuits have been sharply on the rise. After determining that a settlement is owed to the victim, the court considers the nature of the employer's responsibility. This could amount to thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Victims searching for large compensations often see this as an opportunity to cash in. Lawyers, on the other hand, are trying their cases with a definite vigor, since the payoff will be substantial if they win. Courts also are showing an increased interest in these types of cases, not only to determine guilt, but also to compensate the victim.
So what does all this mean? In a nutshell, each employer has the duty to make an adequate and reasonable determination of the applicant's fitness prior to hiring. This is accomplished by conducting a thorough background check on each and every applicant.
TruDiligence has more than a decade of experience developing powerful tools that consistently accomplish three primary goals:
- Streamline your hiring and selection process by providing fast, accurate information on each candidate
- Limit your liability and minimize your exposure to negligent hiring lawsuits
- Expose the profits that lie hidden in your company by reducing costs associated with an excessive turnover rate
With TruDiligence we offer
- No Contracts
- No Setup Fees
- No Monthly Minimums
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