Negligent Hiring Can Injure

NEGLIGENT HIRING BY AN EMPLOYER IS GROUNDS TO SUE

Negligent hiring by an employer is grounds to sue for someone injured by a dangerous worker.

Negligent hiring occurs when a company hires a dangerous, incompetent or unfit person. Later, that person injures someone. Clearly, negligent hiring affects people who don’t even work for the company.

If someone is injured because of a negligent hiring, he can bring a claim in court against the employer. The victim can recover compensation for harm suffered.

Say an extermination company hires an employee for a job that involves working in customers’ homes. The company knew that the worker had violent tendencies. The worker attacks a customer, injuring them. The homeowner could sue the company.

Or say a company that sends a worker to install something in a home, without properly training the worker. The worker, because of his ignorance, deviates from the company’s installation protocol. Someone in the home is injured. Again, the victim may sue.

The doctrine of negligent hiring is an exception to a general rule. Normally, an employer is not responsible for unauthorized acts of its employees.

In order to win a claim, a victim must prove two things. The victim must demonstrate that the employer knew, or should have known, of the dangerousness, incompetence or unfitness of the employee. The victim also must prove that the negligent hiring was the immediate cause of his injuries.

A company can’t escape liability by treating its workers as independent contractors. Even if a company doesn’t take taxes out of the worker’s paycheck, it is still responsible for negligent hiring. Similarly, a company can be guilty of negligent hiring if it engages a contracting company to perform work, having reason to know that the contracting company was dangerous, incompetent or unfit.

As in every personal injury case, there is a deadline to sue. Consult an experienced  personal injury attorney immediately if you’ve been a victim.