Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Negligent Hiring/Retention Human resources professionals have been breathing a bit easier because of the retrenchment in the "At-Will" Employment Doctrine.(1) The repreive was short lived, however, as a relatively new employee relations law scourge has surfaced- The Tort doctrine of negligent hiring/retention.(2) Although this theory is not new, it's prominenece is growing. This added cause of action in tort law is resulting in increased employer liability and risk. Often, Court award outcomes in these cases are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and more, and are likely to be upheld on appeal. The limitations placed on human resources professionals and employers relating to preemployment inquiries make an interesting contrast to the negligent hiring dogma. Discrimination law, such as title VII of the civil rights act of 1964, as written and/or interpreted by the courts, proscribes many inquiries that have a negative employment-related impact on protected classes of people. Plaintiffs also are asking the courts to curb employer access to employee records and other personal information under the right to privacy arguement, a constitutional arguement employing fourth amendment illega