What is negligent hiring or negligent retention?
Negligent hiring and negligent retention can also subject an employer to a tort action.
Negligent hiring is the potential liability of an employer for the actions of an employee who was selected for employment without adequately determining the person's qualifications for the job.
Negligent retention is the prospective liability an employer faces by retaining employees who it knows (or should know) are not qualified to perform their job tasks or have mental or physical conditions or propensities that result in them being hazards to themselves or others.
There is evidence that some applicants do not provide correct information about themselves. For example, one study found that 80 percent of the resumes applicants submitted did not accurately report their job experience. In addition, the study found 30 percent of the resumes did not correctly show educational attainments.
There also is evidence that all employers do not fully verify the information furnished by applicants. A survey of 320 employers found that 18 percent of them did not check the employment history of college graduates, and 21 percent did not verify the graduates' education.
Serious, and even tragic, consequences may result from inadequately verifying whether applicants have the personal characteristics and other relevant qualifications for employment. In one case, the manager of an apartment complex selected an applicant to work in the maintenance department.
An inadequate verification of the individual's background failed to disclose that he had a violent personality, including convictions for assault, and that he was wanted for probation violations. He raped and murdered a female tenant of the complex; the apartment owners were sued by the woman's parents for failing to adequately check the employee's past background.
In another case, a woman raped by a cab driver obtained a judgment of $4,500,000 from the taxi company because it failed to discover that the driver had a criminal record and never should have been hired.
Improving Accuracy of Applicant Information Provided
The accuracy of information furnished by applicants can be substantially improved by following two steps. First, advising applicants that accuracy is essential, since the information they furnish will have a direct bearing on their employability. In addition, instruct applicants that the information they furnish will be carefully verified. These two steps will decrease the inconsistency between information furnished by applicants and that which is obtained through verification.
For example, one organization required applicants for truck driver positions to list all traffic convictions that had occurred within the previous five years. Often, applicants would omit listing either some, or even all, of their traffic citations and convictions. The application form contained a statement in small print that read, Information furnished by applicants is subject to verification.
The process of verifying traffic convictions took some time, particularly for those applicants who had lived in different cities and states. Consequently, to speed the employment process, applicants were given other selection procedures, such as road-driving and vision tests, while the information they provided on the applications was verified.
On a number of occasions, applicants were hired when clean records were received from local police departments in those communities in which applicants reported they had lived. Later, however, state police verified that the clean records contained information that was either omitted or in error. Depending upon the seriousness of the conviction, this new information sometimes necessitated discharging the employee. The Personnel Director was concerned about the problem and he reworded the warning statement in larger print to read:
All the information you furnish on this form will be checked, except that present employers will not be contacted if you specifically request it. Driving records will be thoroughly checked with local and state police departments. Other conviction information will also be verified and considered in evaluating your application, if it is related to the job for which you are applying. Your failure to omit important information may bar you from employment.
In addition, employment interviewers were instructed to inform applicants of this statement:
We verify all information furnished on an application; this includes checking for driving and other conviction information from state and local police departments. We neither obtain nor consider such information unless it is specifically related to the job. Providing false information or omitting information may bar you from employment. With this in mind, would you like to review your application to be sure you did not omit any information.
These procedures significantly reduced errors, inaccuracies, and omissions.
The accuracy of information furnished by applicants can also be increased by requiring them to sign release forms holding previous employers harmless for any job-related information they furnish. Reviewing the release forms with applicants and explaining the types of necessary information, such as job title, length of employment, rehire eligibility, safety record, attendance record, quantity of work, conduct and quality of work, may also prompt the applicant to tell the interviewer about important information that was either omitted or incorrect.
The interviewer should emphasize that any differences in the information provided by the applicant and former employers will delay, or even bar, their employment.
Reprinted with permission. © CCH
<p>Serious consequences may result from inadequately verifying whether applicants have relevant qualifications for employment.</p>