5 Seasonal Hire Horror Stories

The holiday hiring spree has started. According to today’s jobs report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation’s retailers added 434,500 people to their payrolls in November 2014.

Here are some of the horror stores associated with this spike in hiring, and inadequate or no background checks being performed:

A pizza company hired a seasonal delivery driver without looking into his criminal past — which included a rape conviction and an arrest for stalking a women he met while delivering pizza for another company. After he raped a customer, the pizza franchise was liable to his victim for negligent hiring.

A car rental company hired a seasonal worker who later sexually assaulted a coworker. Had the company validated his resume claims, it would have discovered that he was in prison for robbery during the years he claimed to be in high school and college. The company was liable to the coworker.

A home goods company hired a seasonal delivery man without requiring him to fill out an application or performing a background check. The employee assaulted a female customer in her home with a knife. The company was liable to the customer for negligent hiring.

A seasonal hire assaults employee at construction site, leaving employee with nerve damage. Staffing company who employed the worker stated that background checks were only conducted at the client’s request. The company was held liable.

A large fuel company hired seasonal employees for an emergency clean-up. A supervisor sexually assaulted a seasonal employee, it was found that the supervisor was a registered sex offender and a simple background check would have yielded these results. The fuel company was held liable.