Final answer:
The correct answer is 'negligent hiring,' which occurs when an employer fails to perform a thorough background check on an employee with a known history of violent behavior, leading to an incident in the workplace where someone is injured. It's a legal issue distinct from negligent retention and relates to pre-employment screening.
Step-by-step explanation:
The situation you are describing relates to negligent hiring, which is a legal concept that occurs when an employer fails to conduct a proper background check on a candidate who has a history of violence or other issues that may pose a threat in the workplace. Once the candidate becomes an employee, if they cause harm to someone on the job, the employer may be held liable because they neglected to adequately vet the employee during the hiring process. In contrast to negligent retention, which is keeping an employee on staff after being aware of their potential for harm, negligent hiring is about the failure to identify those risks before employment.
Taking into account the larger context of hiring practices, it is essential for employers to balance between preventing discrimination and ensuring workplace safety. Laws like the “Ban the box” campaign aim to reduce discrimination by limiting the information on criminal history an employer can initially have, but may have the unintended consequence of increasing statistical discrimination, especially against certain demographics. Furthermore, there are various U.S. federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination based on group membership criteria such as age, marital status, citizenship, disability, race, or religion during the hiring process, enforced by agencies like the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).