Question

Negligent hiring occurs when an employer becomes aware that an employee may be unfit for employment but continues to employ the person, and the person injures someone on the job.

A) True
B) False

Answer 1

Negligent hiring is falsely characterized in the question; it actually pertains to an employer not doing proper due diligence before hiring someone, not after they are already employed. The term for retaining an unfit employee who then causes harm is 'negligent retention.'

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement provided in the question is false. Negligent hiring typically refers to a scenario in which an employer fails to conduct appropriate due diligence during the hiring process and hires someone who is unfit for the job, and that person later causes harm. This concept is related to an employer's responsibility to hiring competent and safe employees. Knowledge of the employee being unfit comes prior to, or as a result of, the hiring process, not afterwards. It is after hiring a person who was not thoroughly vetted that the employer might face claims of negligent hiring if the employee causes harm.

However, when an employer becomes aware of an employee's potential harmful conduct after hiring and retains that employee who then causes injury, this would more accurately be described as 'negligent retention,' a different legal concept.