In this real-life legal case, an employee gets injured as the result of an attack by a co-worker with a history of violence. The injured employee sues the company and HR for failing to uncover the violent past. Who wins?

The facts: 
During a workplace dispute, an employee struck and injured a co-worker. After the employer reported the incident to the police, a subsequent investigation showed that the attacker had been involved similar incidents. The injured employee received workers compensation for the injury but also sued the employer for damages, saying that HR and the employer hadn’t dug deeply enough into the attacker’s past and as a result, had hired someone who was a danger to other employees. 

The employer said:
HR had done the typical and reasonable background checks on the attacker and had run the usual reference checks, too. None of that had produced any record of a violent past or a likelihood that the employee would harm a co-worker.

Who won the case? 

Answer: The employer. 

Why:
An appeals court ruled workers compensation was a suitable remedy for the injury the employee suffered during the attack.

Two factors led to the decision:

• In many states, employees who receive workers comp for an on-the-job injury can’t turn around and sue the employer for circumstances surrounding the injury unless the employer was totally negligent in hiring or failing to protect the victim.
• HR had done the usual background checks before hiring the attacker, and nothing fishy turned up. Had his violent history become known – and ignored – during the checks, the outcome of the case might have been different.

Not Sherlock Holmes, but …
You know you can only go so far when it comes to doing a background check on job candidates. But the ruling shows if you do uncover something suspicious, you better take action and either determine there’s nothing to the suspicions or there’s enough to deny employment.

Courts don’t necessarily expect HR managers to be Sherlock Holmes and uncover every hidden detail about a candidate’s background. They, however, do expect companies to do reasonable checks and act on anything – such as a history of harassment or violence – that might disqualify the candidate.

Cite: Peterson v. Arlington Hospitality Staffing, Inc.

Tags: background check, injury, reference, workers compensation