Standards for Negligent Hiring

Negligent hiring has to do with the failure to exercise reasonable care in the hiring process. What constitutes reasonable care depends on the type of position being filled and the degree of harm to others that could result from the failure to use reasonable care. Suppose you're hiring a janitor. Reasonable care might be demonstrated by showing that previous employment had been confirmed and other pertinent information on the job application had been verified prior to making a job offer. Now suppose you're hiring a brain surgeon. Would you have demonstrated reasonable care by doing the same thing? Obviously not. Why? Because the risk of harm to others would be far greater for the brain surgeon than janitor. Therefore, a company that employs brain surgeons will be held to a higher standard to show that reasonable care was used in the selection process than one that employs custodians.