ONE MILLION REASONS TO CONDUCT BACKGROUND CHECKS

One Million reasons to conduct background checks. Think that is an exaggeration? Well, read on. This is a case from my Employers Hall of Horrors and in upcoming months I am going to stroll through this Hall of Horrors with you.

 This story is a tragedy focusing on Jacob Cadriel, an All-American hero. Hailing from a military family in southern Texas, he left them behind from 2006 until 2011 to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. While away on duty, his wife committed herself to studying nursing to better provide for her family and for her community. Jacob was so grateful to her for her relentless support and ambition that he had her name tattooed on his chest above his heart, with the names of his friends who had given their lives for their country joining hers along his arms. Jacob and his wife had plans to settle down post-service and post-education to start what would be a large family. However, those hopeful aspirations would never come to pass.

After completing his military duty, Jacob found employment at Woven Metal Products, a fabrication shop providing metals to petrochemical companies. Like most employees, he did not ask about the background of his colleagues, assuming instead that his employer had done its due diligence. But Jacob’s employer had neglected to do its utmost to protect both its employees and its own reputation.

One of Jacob’s colleagues was Steven Young. Just before he was hired at Woven Metal Products, Steven, a former inmate, had threatened a co-worker with a handgun at his previous employer, Jack in the Box, and this was not the first of such instances in his short but troubled career. In 2008, Steven was convicted of carrying an illegal firearm at his workplace. Years later in 2014, he was convicted in the same county of making a terroristic threat. In another instance, Steven had removed his shirt to start a fight with a coworker who had criticized his use of the pejorative “skinhead.” Yet none of these incidents were brought to light by Woven Metal Products, because no background check exploring Steven’s criminal or employment record was ever performed.

Jacob was wholly unaware of the depth of Steven’s past erratic and violent work conduct, and on April 1, 2015, negligence on the part of his employer turned to tragedy. Both Jacob and Steven were at the shop for what should have been a routine Wednesday at work. Jacob was instructed to take over the forklift from Steven, who assaulted Jacob and brought him to the ground with several punches to the face. When Jacob got up and walked away, Steven removed a handgun from his belt and shot Jacob in the back. Jacob was rushed to the hospital where he died a couple of hours later. Young was arrested,tried and sentenced to 45 years in prison. The ensuing negligent hiring and negligent retention lawsuit purported that Woven Metal Products, Jacob and Steven’s employer, had acted negligently in failing to create a safe working environment for its employees. In particular, the lawsuit noted that the company had failed to conduct comprehensive background checks on applicants and failed to act post-hiring, despite the complaints of many workers about Steven’s erratic and violent behavior. 

Every year, nearly 1000 American employees are murdered while at work. Tragically, the hiring process used by Woven did not include background checks. Attorneys representing Jacob’s family were able to establish that Woven Metal Products had enabled a culture of violence in the workplace, in particular due to their failure to conduct background checks and to appropriately address employee complaints about their coworkers. The jury found that the employer was liable to inform Jacob of the risks associated with working with Steven, and that its lack of awareness of his convictions was not grounds for dismissal of the case. Jacob’s family was awarded One Million Dollars for their pain and suffering in addition to medical expenses. His wife was also awarded income continuation for his lost employment and damages for lost partnership

As has been proven time and time again in these types of cases, in a jury’s mind if an employer could have known about an employees background, it translates to they should have known about the employees background. And that means- Employers get out your checkbook. And that translates to Employers, get out your checkbooks. Very bad, very Expensive things are about to happen. The sad thing about this situation, in addition to the loss of life is that it could have all been avoided with a simple background checking likely costing less than fifty dollars

Lessons must be learned from cases such as this one. The simple failure to conduct background checks can drastically alter innocent lives, while having dramatic repercussions for the reputation and finances of an employer. In fact, 79% of employers lose negligent hiring lawsuits at an average cost of over $1 million. For many businesses, this can be a death blow. But even for those who can survive the financial fallout of a negligence lawsuit, the damage done to their brands and public reputations can often never be repaired.

If you would like to know more about how to protect yourself from negligent hiring lawsuits or if you would like to receive a free, no obligation audit of your background checking process to ensure that you are not headed for a court date, just call me at 844 SCREEN NOW (844 727 3366) or email me at [email protected]. To learn more about us check out our website at www.backgroundchecksexpress.com.