In California, employers can be held liable when they hire employees who cause harm to customers, clients, or other employees. Personal injury victims would need to show that the employer had reasonable warning during the hiring process about the candidate’s inclination to put others at risk.
Negligent Hiring Liability in California Personal Injury Cases
Business owners and operators must show a duty of care to anyone visiting their stores and offices. They are also responsible for a customer’s safety when they send employees to the customer’s home.
When assessing a potential hire, employers must conduct proper background checks, administer required drug tests, and pay attention to any information provided by references and former coworkers. If a company receives a reasonable warning that a potential hire poses a danger to others and still goes through with a hire, the company can be held liable in an accident.
An employee may have a spotty driving record and still be hired by a delivery company. That driver could proceed to make a reckless move on a highway and hit your SUV. A home service professional may have a history of reckless behavior and still be sent to your home only to cause a careless accident that leaves you with an injury.
In certain cases, this responsibility an employer bears applies to accidents that happen while the employee is off the clock. Credentials provided to employees and tools assigned can be used after hours and cause an accident that harms someone. The transportation provided by an employer could be involved in an accident after a shift is over.
Proving Negligent Hiring in California
Victims of negligence in the workplace or at a place of business often must hold a business responsible in order to secure enough in a personal injury case to fully cover hospital bills and the loss of wages while missing work.
A negligent employee may be directly responsible for an injury, but the guilty individual likely won’t have suitable insurance coverage or assets to provide everything a victim needs.
To prove negligent hiring was a factor in a personal injury case, the victim must demonstrate a few factors were true: The employee was unfit to perform the job. The employer knew of the risk the worker posed to others or reasonably should have known.
Victims along with their personal injury attorneys must also demonstrate that the employee’s negligence caused the victim’s injury. And finally that the employer’s negligence in the hiring process played a role in the accident.
Negligent Supervision and Retention in California
Negligent hiring may not be a factor when an employer truly didn’t know a potential hire posed a risk. However, the employer can be found liable for other negligent decisions once the worker has been hired.
Negligent retention covers cases where an employer hires an employee and later uncovers information that the worker poses a safety risk. Ignoring this information and allowing the worker to remain on the payroll opens up the employer to liability when someone gets hurt.
Negligent supervision is another way a victim can hold a business owner or operator accountable. This covers employers who don’t properly monitor employees and allow them to create unsafe situations. The employee may be improperly trained or hasn’t had the proper safety training for certain duties. An employee may be left alone when supervision was necessary to keep others safe.
Compensation in Negligent Hiring Cases
In some cases, the victims of personal injury may find it possible to hold multiple parties and insurance providers liable for their medical care and other hardships.
This would provide the victim with a better chance to secure full compensation for every hospital bill. This is especially helpful when victims are denied further support when insurance policies have caps on what they’ll provide.
A successful personal injury case earning an insurance settlement or court judgment could earn support for these damages and more:
- Hospital Bills
- Rehab treatment/equipment
- Transportation costs for medical appointments
- Lost time from work (Including the expected future lost time)
- Permanent disability/disfigurement
- Pain and emotional suffering
- Loss of consortium (Being without the support of a spouse, partner, family member, etc.)
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer Serving California Victims
Employers and business owners are legally responsible for providing customers and clients a safe environment and surrounding them with employees proven reasonably safe through background checks.
When you or a loved one are the victims of an employer’s negligence, contact attorney Martin Gasparian, the founder of Maison Law. Mr. Gasparian provides a free case consultation to all victims. He will listen to you and go over every option you have to get help with your recovery. There’s no obligation and if he represents your injury claim, he doesn’t get paid until he wins your case.
