On occasion employers will be sued for an employee’s wrongful act committed after work hours or off the employer’s premises. Often the argument is the employer was negligent in hiring the employee in the first place. Recent cases have made clear that the concept of negligent hiring is limited to being “unfit” for the specific tasks to be performed. An employer cannot be held responsible for guaranteeing the safety of anyone an employee might incidentally meet while on the job, or for injuries inflicted independent of the performance of work-related functions. For example, if an employer hires a day care sitter who has a history of sexual molestation, they can certainly be sued for negligent hiring if they don’t inquire into that applicant’s background. However, if the employer hires a salesman with a criminal background who ends up sexually assaulting a prospect after work hours, there would probably be no liability. Employers are not guarantors of the safety of all customers or other persons with whom their employees meet incidentally while performing service work or other functions.
