According to Patricia Kotze, president of our partner company Diversified Risk Management, Inc. (DRM), there is a new threat to employers and their Human Resources departments: the “Professional Applicant.” “This is a person who applies for a position with a company but has no intention of sticking around to be a productive employee,” says Ms. Kotze. “Instead, their primary goal is in finding a weakness in your business and exploiting it for financial gain. Professional Applicants typically have a history of lawsuits against former employers, Workers Compensation claims, and/or complaints based on state or federal laws such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).”

DRM recently published a White Paper called: “Professional Applicants are an Emerging Threat to Businesses,” which lists concrete steps employers can take to minimize the damage caused by these at-risk employees.

The economic harm that a Professional Applicant can inflict on a business ranges from excessive legal fees to putting you out of business permanently. In 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had 114 complaints and lawsuits filed which resulted in employers paying out monetary benefits of over $52 million.

Ms. Kotze says much of the potential damage caused by Professional Applicants can be mitigated by following certain steps. These include: utilizing creative interviewing techniques, strictly adhering to state and federal laws, maintaining a strong attendance policy with increasing levels of discipline, documenting all complaints, using a qualified Employment Law attorney for issues that arise, and acquiring EPLI to ensure that you do not become a target. Each of these steps will help weed out applicants who are not planning to stick around and may prevent time in court, additional expenses and the grief of dealing with Professional Applicants.

To learn more about this issue, read the full news release here.