Several courts have found yet another way for someone to sue contractors.
This term refers to lawsuits against you for alleged failure to exercise proper control over your employers. For example, one of your employees might be accused of injuring others recklessly while driving a truck on company business. A “negligent supervision” suit would claim that you were negligent in hiring this worker because you either failed to discover or ignored the fact that she had a record of reckless driving.
You also have an obligation to supervise your staff. Although you can’t foresee every incident, a court will look at whether you took reasonable steps to identify and guard against potential wrongdoing by your employees: everything from unsafe behavior on the job site to sexual harassment. It’s not only about whether a worker actually committed an offence – it’s about what you did to prevent it.
To head off liability for negligent supervision, we’d recommend that you:
- Set and enforce clear guidelines for interviewing and hiring employees.
- Provide training in conflict resolution and communication. Supervisors need to know when to report certain behaviors and which behaviors to look for, such as verbal abuse, failing to cooperate with supervisors or co-workers .and making inappropriate comments.
- Conduct regular performance evaluations to address specific behavior or job performance changes.
- Provide multiple avenues to receive allegations of misbehavior, and have unbiased managers investigate complaints so that no conflicts of interest exist. Investigate every incidents promptly and take decisive action.
We stand ready to review your company’s exposure to negligent supervision claims – and how your Liability insurance coverage can help protect you. Just give us a call.
