Negligence in Employment in Canada

Negligence in employment covers several actions in tort law, mainly when an employer is responsible for the accident (or other tortuous act) caused by the employee. The employer in this case is negligent in providing the employee with the ability to create this situation. A person who is claiming negligence must prove that the defendant owed them a duty of care, that this duty was breached and that the claimant was injured as a result of the duty breach. This duty exists only if the injury is labeled as “reasonably foreseeable” (can cause the harm of the type which occurred at the current accident). The claimant must also be the person for whom the harm would be a “reasonably foreseeable consequence”. Generally the law divides Negligence in employment in four scenarios: negligent hiring, negligent retention, negligent supervision and negligent training.

Negligent Hiring

Negligent hiring is a situation when the employer hires the employee ignoring some of his work records that pointed to the fact that the accident can occur. This is one of the cornerstones of negligence in employment, because at this point everything depends on the actions of the employer and his professional skills in hiring employees. All the other scenarios can include some factors that appear later during the working process, but hiring is the moment when only the employer is guilty for the possible future incidents. Negligent hiring is also the scenario that can be prevented by the buyer alone. Additional investigation can uncover some facts about the future employee. So it is best for the buyers to conduct interviews, verify work and educational histories, check references and conduct a background check on the future employee. In some cases the check can be considered insufficient, still it is best to do to it, especially if the employee looks like he is hiding something from his previous work experience.
Negligent Retention

This type of negligence occurs when the people in charge failed to remove an employee from a position of authority or responsibility after it was clear that the employee wasn’t capable of handling the responsibility. The results of this negligence are probably the most serious, a non-professional person with authority can cause huge losses for a company. If a person is suited for negligent retention very often he or she pleads negligent supervision or training. It changes the penalties from firing the employee to conduct additional training or add supervision to the working process.

Negligent Supervision

Negligent supervision occurs when the party fails to monitor or control the actions of the employee. As the other types of negligence it results into injuries or losses if the work of an employee was not observed correctly.

Negligent Training

This negligence occurs when a party fails at training of the employee or at making him aware of certain details of the working process and it results into injuries or losses. This occurs only in certain types of companies where an additional training for employees is required.