Hiring Wisdom: How to Help Avoid Negligent Hiring Lawsuits

The first line of defense … is a good offense, and a good offense against negligent hiring lawsuits is your careful investigation of each employee’s background.

For a thorough check:

Contact all prior employers. (Even if you think all you’ll get is dates of employment and salary, make the calls anyway. If you get a “no comment,” record it in the file. If necessary, it can be produced in court to show you did try to get the information.)
Obtain personal and professional references and contact them all. If concerned about a particular trait or circumstance, ask specifically about it when checking references.
Conduct drug, driving and credit checks.
When in doubt, consider other applicants instead.

Mel Kleiman will discuss how Great HR is Simple — It’s Just Not Easy at the TLNT Transform conference in Austin, TX Feb. 26-28, 2012. Click here for more information on attending this event.

This was originally published on Mel Kleiman’s Humetrics blog.