A Police Officer in Alexandria, Virginia has filed a $10 million civil lawsuit alleging that a taxi cab company was negligent in the hiring and supervision of its drivers after one driver was accused of shooting the police officer in the head, according to a report from the Old Town Alexandria Patch.
The Old Town Alexandria Patch reports that Police Officer Peter Laboy, 45, was shot and seriously injured during a traffic stop on February 27, 2013 involving the accused driver, Kashif Bashir, 27, who had worked for Alexandria Yellow Cab for four years. The report indicates Bashir was convicted on 17 charges in Fairfax County, Virginia including traffic violations such as speeding and failure to obey a traffic signal as well as a 2011 charge for tampering with a vehicle.
The $10 million lawsuit is seeking $5 million for one count of negligent hiring and retention and $5 million for one count of negligent entrustment, the Old Town Alexandria Patch reports. The suit claims the taxi cab company “failed to perform any type of background screening” before hiring the suspect in the police officer’s shooting as a driver, “failed to adequately monitor or supervise” the driver while he worked for the company, and failed to conduct adequate background checks on drivers.
As reported earlier on ESR News, nearly seven in ten businesses were affected by a “bad hire” of a worker in the past year. A December 2012 CareerBuilder study of nearly 2,500 hiring managers and human resource professionals revealed that 69 percent of employers reported that their companies had been adversely affected by a bad hire in 2012, with 24 percent of those businesses saying a bad hire cost them more than $50,000 and 41 percent estimating the cost to be over $25,000.
According to ‘The Safe Hiring Manual’ by Attorney Lester Rosen, Founder and CEO of background check firm Employment Screening Resources® (ESR), every employer has the obligation — the duty of care — to exercise “due diligence” and consider if a potential new employee represents a risk to others in view of the nature of the job. When an employer fails to exercise due diligence and a person is harmed by an employee, that employer can be sued. The name of the legal action is called “negligent hiring.”
In his book, which was revised and updated for a 2nd edition published in October 2012, Rosen states: “If an employer hires someone who they either knew – or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known – was too dangerous, dishonest, unfit, or unqualified for the position, and it was foreseeable that some sort of injury could happen to someone as a result, then the employer can be sued for negligent hiring.”
Employers that implement and follow a Safe Hiring Program (SHP) with background checks show due diligence measures that are a powerful legal protection. Employment Screening Resources® (ESR) – ‘The Background Check Authority®’ – is a nationwide screening firm accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®). For information about background checks, visit at http://www.esrcheck.com or call Toll Free 888.999.4474.
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About Employment Screening Resources® (ESR):
Founded by safe hiring expert Attorney Les Rosen in 1997, Employment Screening Resources® (ESR) – ‘The Background Check Authority®’– provides accurate and actionable information that empowers employers to make informed hiring decisions for the benefit of their organizations, employees, and the public. CEO Rosen literally wrote the book on background checks with “The Safe Hiring Manual” and ESR is accredited by The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), a distinction held by a small percent of screening firms. Employers choosing ESR know they have selected an agency meeting the highest industry standards. To learn more about ESR, visit http://www.esrcheck.com or call toll free 888.999.4474.
About ESR News:
The Employment Screening Resources® (ESR) News blog – ESR News – provides employment screening information for employers, recruiters, and jobseekers on a variety of topics including credit reports, criminal records, data privacy, discrimination, E-Verify, jobs reports, legal updates, negligent hiring, workplace violence, and use of search engines and social network sites for background checks. For more information about ESR News or to send comments or questions, please email ESR News Editor Thomas Ahearn at tahearn@esrcheck.com. To subscribe to the ESR News Blog Feed, visit http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/feed/. To subscribe to the complimentary ESRcheck Report monthly newsletter, please visit http://www.esrcheck.com/Newsletter/.