When you’re hiring employees for your business, you need to make sure that you’re hiring the right people. Employers are increasingly found liable for the actions of their employees. So, if one of your employees causes another person to become injured, your company may be at fault, even if the only thing you’re guilty of is hiring that employee. For this reason, employers need to intentionally set aside time in order to review and revise their hiring and firing practices. Because, not only are companies responsible for hiring the right employees, they’re also responsible for firing the wrong employees, and overseeing their employees’ actions.

How You Can Reduce Your Liability

To reduce liability, an employer should conduct a background check, employment verification, and education verification on each employee. If a company hires a certified nursing assistant, who didn’t actually obtain their CNA certification, they could be liable for any injury that the CNA causes due to their lack of education. The same would be true if a company hired a CNA with a history of violently assaulting patients, and then the CNA assaulted a patient. Finally, if a company hired an employee who didn’t have the experience that they claimed to have, and that lack of experience caused someone to become injured, that company could be liable. If a company knew, or reasonably should have known, that the employee did not have the education or experience they needed to do the job, or that they had a history of harming others that is relevant to the job, the company could be liable.

Negligent Retention

Employees are also responsible for making sure that they don’t continue to employ people who pose a danger to others. Negligent retention occurs when an employee should have been fired but was not. If an employee begins to harass other employees, and is allowed to continue working there, the employers may have negligently retained that employee. But negligent retention can manifest itself in other ways. For example, if an employee lied about having experience driving a forklift, and the employer finds out about it, but continues to let the employee operate the forklift, they may be negligently retaining the employee as well, assuming the lack of forklift experience injured someone.

Negligent Supervision

Negligent supervision can happen in a variety of ways as well. For example, teachers who aren’t providing the adequate amount of supervision to the class may be liable if a child is hurt due to the lack of supervision. Recently, former Cognizant employees alleged that fights were often breaking out in the parking lot at work. In cases like these, Cognizant may be liable for injuries employees sustained in the parking lot. This is because companies are responsible for supervising their employees.

Negligent Entrustment of Dangerous Instrumentality

Another thing employers have to watch out for is negligent entrustment of dangerous instrumentality. Negligent entrustment of dangerous instrumentality most frequently occurs when an employer asks an employee to perform tasks using tools they aren’t familiar with, or do not have the qualifications to operate. For example, if, at your desk job, your boss demands that you go outside and do some landscaping with a chainsaw, they may be liable for any injuries you, or other people sustain due to your lack of experience with chainsaws. 

When Negligence Injures You

Your employer has a legal obligation to provide you with a safe place to work. In Utah, there’s a shortage of qualified employees. But that doesn’t mean that employers are allowed to ask their employees to perform dangerous tasks without the proper training or safety equipment. If you’ve been injured due to your negligence, it may be time to hire a Utah personal injury attorney. A Utah personal injury attorney will be the most skilled at navigating the employment laws within the state.