Do you know who you are hiring? - preventing workplace and employee violence

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 1997 by Edward Niam, Jr.

The ideal situation is to conduct background checks on all applicants being considered for hire, regardless of the position for which they are applying. Less information may be needed for an entry-level position than for management. For instance, credit information, criminal history, and motor vehicle record may be sufficient at one level. For management positions, a company might want to add employment and education verification.

Once it is decided what information is important for each position, the same background check should be conducted every time. Consistency is the key to structuring and maintaining a quality pre-employment screening program. Remember, without factual information, any hiring decision is nothing more than guesswork.

In Holden v. Hotel Management, Inc., a jury awarded $1,000,000 in compensatory damages and $5,000,000 in punitive damages to a man whose wife was murdered by a hotel employee. The hotel management company, against whom the claims were levied, had failed to conduct pre-employment screening and reference checking that would have revealed the murderer's violent history.

Negligent hiring and retention lawsuits are on the rise. Negligent hiring arises when a company fails to conduct a thorough background check on an employee and there is something in that person's past that might put others at risk. Traditionally, employer liability allows recovery for wrongful and criminal acts of workers when they occur within the scope of their jobs. It is possible to collect liability payments when offenses are committed even when an individual is not "on the clock." Negligent retention applies this same principle when information is discovered about a current employee, yet that worker is not terminated immediately.

Every company, regardless of size. should run background checks on applicants. Downsizing is becoming a major factor in businesses not only remaining competitive, but surviving. It is critical to make the right hiring decision every time.

Thirty percent of new business failures are caused by employee theft or embezzlement. Internal theft occurs 15 times more than external theft. More than 2,000,000 personal thefts happen annually in the workplace. Seven percent of all rapes, eight percent of robberies, and 16% of assaults occur at work. If companies still are not sure that pre-employment background checks are important, they should ask Elizabeth Harrison. She speaks from a perspective the rest of us hope never to experience.