Attorney at Law and safe hiring expert Lester Rosen, founder and CEO of San Francisco, CA area-based background check firm Employment Screening Resources (ESR), will present a session titled ‘Negligent Hiring and Background Checks – Best Practices and Legal Compliance’ on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 from 2:15 PM to 3:45 PM for the California Association for Health Services at Home (CAHSAH) 2012 Annual Conference at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, CA. For more information about the CAHSAH 2012 Annual Conference, visit http://cahsah.org/index.php?p=annual_conferences. (more…)

In a ruling that will make school sex abuse lawsuits easier for California parents and students to file, the California Supreme Court has ruled that school districts can be held “vicariously liable” for the negligent hiring, retention, and supervision of employees who are prone to sexually abusing students. California Supreme Court Justice Kathryn Werdegar wrote the unanimous Supreme Court opinion for the case ‘C.A. a Minor, etc. v. WILLIAM S. HART UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT et al.’ that is available at: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S188982.PDF. (more…)

Consumers and attorneys are looking more closely at background check reports and laws governing employment screening and filing more lawsuits against employers. On one hand, employers are being sued by victims that alleged the employer failed to perform adequate screening. On the other, employers and background screening firms also face lawsuits from job applicants complaining about the accuracy of background reports, or failure to meet the guidelines of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In a number of cases, class action suits are being utilized as the vehicle to bring legal actions against employers. This is Trend Number 7 of the fifth annual ‘Employment Screening Resources (ESR) Top 10 Trends in Background Checks’ for 2012. To view the list of trends, visit http://www.esrcheck.com/ESR-Top-10-Trends-in-Background-Checks-for-2012.php. (more…)

The family of a truck driver killed in a 2008 accident in Arkansas was recently awarded $7 million in damages in a wrongful death lawsuit brought against a timber company and its truck driver in an Arkansas Federal Court, according to a press release in the Kansas City Star. A group of Kansas City-area lawyers serving as counsel for the family of the man killed in the accident argued that the timber company had negligently hired the truck driver who caused the accident without conducting a basic background search that would have quickly revealed a history of unsafe driving that included having his license revoked twice. (more…)

A case decided by the California Supreme Court on June 23, 2011 graphically demonstrates the difference between allegations of negligent hiring as opposed to “vicarious” liability where an employer has direct responsibility for the acts of an employee. (more…)