Preventable workplace incidents cost Georgia businesses an estimated $1.7 billion annually, and a huge chunk of that comes from employer oversights. That number doesn’t tell the whole story, though, it misses the human cost and the specific fallout from negligent hiring, a problem I see all the time in cases involving high-traffic areas like Roswell’s GA-400. Understanding employer liability here is a core part of public safety and corporate responsibility. So what does the data actually show about the risks companies take when they don’t vet people properly?
Key Takeaways
- Employers can be held liable for negligent hiring if an employee harms someone and the employer should have known about the employee’s dangerous tendencies.
- Georgia’s O.C.G.A. Section 34-7-20 requires employers to use “ordinary care” in hiring, and the person suing has to prove the employer failed to do this.
- To protect themselves, employers need to run background checks, which should include criminal history and, for driving jobs, a review of their driving record.
- The average jury award for a negligent hiring case is over $1 million, showing the massive financial risk of cutting corners on hiring.
- If you’re a victim of a negligently hired employee, you can sue for compensation covering medical bills, lost income, property damage, and your pain and suffering.
The Startling Reality: 1 in 5 Employers Skip Criminal Background Checks
It’s almost hard to believe, but a 2023 industry survey showed that nearly 20% of U.S. employers don’t run criminal background checks on every hire. That’s a huge number, considering any employee with an unexamined history of violence or theft can become a major liability. For a business in Roswell, especially one on the GA-400 corridor where employees are constantly dealing with the public, skipping that check isn’t just an oversight. It’s a high-stakes gamble.
From my experience handling these negligence cases, that skipped background check is often the key piece of evidence in a lawsuit. It’s about reasonable due diligence, not psychic ability. The law demands prudence, not omniscience. When an employer could have found out about an employee’s dangerous tendencies and didn’t even look, they’re facing a world of legal trouble. For a job that involves being around the public or having unsupervised access, failing to run a simple criminal check looks a lot like willful ignorance in a courtroom.
The Rising Cost: Average Jury Awards Exceed $1 Million in Negligent Hiring Cases
Looking at recent lawsuits, the average jury award in a negligent hiring case is now often over $1 million. That number covers the victim’s medical bills and lost wages, plus huge amounts for pain and suffering or emotional distress, and sometimes punitive damages get tacked on just to punish the company. A judgment like that can easily bankrupt a business in Roswell or at least disrupt its operations for years. We’re talking about the survival of the company, not just a hike in insurance premiums.
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The damage goes way beyond the courtroom verdict. A company’s reputation gets torched, customers lose trust, and employee morale tanks. When people see their employer hired someone dangerous, they stop trusting management, which leads to higher turnover and less work getting done. I’ve personally seen cases where one bad hire, one skipped check, completely destroyed a company’s brand and even forced them to shut down. When you think about it that way, the cost of a good background check is nothing next to a multi-million dollar lawsuit.
Georgia’s Legal Framework: O.C.G.A. Section 34-7-20 and the “Ordinary Care” Standard
The whole legal basis for these claims in Georgia is O.C.G.A. Section 34-7-20. It says an employer has to use “ordinary care” when picking employees and can’t keep them on after learning they’re incompetent. The entire case hinges on that phrase, “ordinary care.” What does that mean? It’s job-specific. If you’re hiring a driver to run up and down GA-400, you’d better be checking their driving record. If the job involves working with kids or the elderly, a full criminal background check is the absolute minimum.
For a plaintiff to win, they have to connect a lot of dots for the jury. They have to prove the employer knew (or should have known) the employee was unfit, that this specific unfitness led to the injury, and that the employer’s lazy hiring process was the direct cause. It’s a high bar, for sure. But when you have clear-cut evidence, like a documented history of assault that a simple background check would have caught, the case gets a lot easier to make. I can tell you that down at the Fulton County Superior Court, judges and juries are taking this very seriously and are not letting employers off the hook.
The Underestimated Risk: 30% of Workplace Violence Incidents Involve Employees with Prior Records
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has a chilling number: in about 30% of workplace violence incidents, the person responsible had a history of violence that a background check could have found. These were preventable tragedies. A lot of employers get this wrong, thinking that if the bad behavior didn’t happen at a previous job, it doesn’t count. That’s a dangerous way to think. A record of assault or domestic violence is a huge red flag, and it absolutely suggests what a person might do at work when things get stressful.
I hear this argument all the time from employers: “How can I be responsible for what my employee does on their own time?” But that argument crumbles in court when we show a clear, discoverable pattern of dangerous behavior that puts coworkers and customers at risk. Your duty of care means providing a safe environment, and that starts with who you hire. For any business in Roswell along GA-400 with employees interacting with the public, ignoring those red flags is simply irresponsible.
Challenging the Conventional Wisdom: “Second Chances” Versus Due Diligence
People talk a lot about giving “second chances” to people with criminal records, and while that’s a noble idea for society, it runs headfirst into a business owner’s legal duty to keep their workplace safe. The conversation often gets framed as being against a blanket ban on anyone with a record, which would be too harsh. But that misses the point entirely. The real issue isn’t a blanket ban versus no-rules hiring. It’s about doing a careful, individual review of each candidate.
In my opinion, employers have no duty to ignore someone’s past. They have a duty to look at it. You have to do an individualized assessment: what was the crime, how long ago was it, and what’s the job they’re applying for? A 20-year-old shoplifting charge probably doesn’t matter for an office job. A recent assault conviction for someone who wants to be a security guard? That’s a different story. The law isn’t asking for perfection, it’s asking for a reasonable effort. Just saying “everyone deserves a second chance” won’t be much of a defense when someone gets hurt and a jury finds out you could have prevented it. When safety is on the line, responsibility has to come first.
For any Roswell business, especially on the GA-400 corridor, the consequences of negligent hiring are severe. Skipping your due diligence can wreck you financially and ruin your reputation, all while causing preventable harm. You have to prioritize background checks and a solid hiring process to protect your people and your business. The principles of accountability here are similar to how liability is determined in major accidents, like the ones you can read about in Savannah I-95 Truck Crashes: Liability Shifts in 2026. Understanding how to prove fault in Georgia distracted driving cases also gives good context for employee conduct issues. And as work changes, it’s smart to keep an eye on related topics like Amazon Flex Drivers: Employee Rights in 2026, which gets into the weeds of worker status and what that means for employer responsibility.
What constitutes “negligent hiring” under Georgia law?
Under Georgia’s O.C.G.A. Section 34-7-20, negligent hiring is when an employer doesn’t use reasonable care to screen an employee, who then harms someone because of a dangerous trait the employer should have known about.
What types of background checks are considered reasonable due diligence for employers in Georgia?
Reasonable due diligence depends on the job, but it typically means running criminal background checks, verifying past employment, and checking the driving record for any position that involves being behind the wheel. The more responsibility the job has, the more you need to check.
Can an employer be held liable if an employee commits a crime outside of work hours?
Usually, no, an employer isn’t liable for what an employee does off the clock. But there’s a big exception: if you negligently hired someone with a known tendency for violence and they harm a coworker or customer, even outside of work, you could still be on the hook because you knew the risk.
What damages can be recovered in a negligent hiring lawsuit in Georgia?
Victims can sue for all their medical costs, lost income, property damage, and pain and suffering. If the employer’s negligence was particularly bad, courts can also award punitive damages to punish the company.
Does Georgia law require employers to conduct background checks?
The law doesn’t list specific background checks you must run for every job. However, the “ordinary care” standard in O.C.G.A. Section 34-7-20 basically requires them. If a reasonable person would have run a check for a particular job and you didn’t, you’ve likely failed your duty of care.
