By Paul Marcus

In recent years, the number of negligent hiring lawsuits filed against employers has increased. These lawsuits are normally filed by a third party who is injured by your employee. Most claims are made charging that the company (you) did not do the proper due diligence of conducting a thorough background check before hiring the employee, and if a proper search had been done, the employee would not have been hired.

By not performing a complete and comprehensive background check, you are leaving yourself and your business open to the following:

• Unsafe business environment

• Embezzlement and dishonesty

• High employee turnover rate

• Workplace violence

• Negligent hiring lawsuits

  The average cost to employers of a negligent hiring lawsuit is $1 million and can exceed $40 million. In addition, 79 percent of negligent hiring lawsuits are lost by the employer. Following the recommendations below will assist you in setting up effective screening process.