Background Checks Can Help Prevent Negligent Hiring Lawsuits

What happens when an employee commits a crime on the job?

Is the employee liable alone? Or can his employer be held liable as well?

That’s the question a court will soon be asking in a class action lawsuit against UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh and a Maryland-based medical staffing company.

David Kwiatkowski was caught stealing narcotics from UPMC, where he worked as a medical technician.

Kwiatkowski was fired, but the case was never reported to authorities. Several patients were allegedly infected with hepatitis C after Kwiatkowski left tainted needles behind.

Now, the surviving family members of one victim are suing, as are several other plaintiffs.

But they’re not suing Kwiatkowski. They’re suing his employers. They’re claiming UPMC and Maxim Staffing’s failure to report Kwiatkowski allowed him to get hired at other hospitals where he allegedly infected patients in the same manner.

A lawsuit against an employer can be brought under the theory of vicarious liability. If the employee is acting within the scope of his job and causes harm to another person, the employer can be held liable under the law of agency, meaning that the employee was acting as an agent for the employer.

In cases where the employee is acting outside the scope of his job duties, plaintiffs can sue under the claim of negligent hiring, arguing that the employer was negligent or reckless in hiring someone they should’ve known was dangerous.

Background checks are essential for an employer to avoid this kind of situation. While background checks may seem tedious and tiresome, they can certainly help avoid future headaches of lawsuits.

While prior criminal charges alone shouldn’t always cut someone out of contention for a job, it can still be a factor to consider, especially if the actions were repeated and if the nature of the acts could pose a liability risk to the employer.

Should UPMC have been more diligent in its hiring of Kwiatkowski? Perhaps, but hindsight is 20/20. It will be interesting to see what defenses UPMC and Maxim Staffing may raise as this case proceeds.

Related Resources:

• Philadelphia Employment Lawyers (FindLaw)
• Erroneous Background Checks Cost Jobs, Violate Law? (FindLaw’s Philadelphia Employment Law News)
• Negligent Hiring and Training Suits (FindLaw’s Free Enterprise)
• Negligent Hiring: Criminals in Nursing Homes (FindLaw’s Free Enterprise)