Employers must oversee their employees to supervise the work they do. Every employer must provide adequate supervision to prevent accidents and injuries. When an employer fails to adequately supervise their employees, they may be held liable for negligent supervision.
If you were hurt because your employer failed to uphold proper supervision, causing you injuries, you may have a negligent supervision claim. Mazzu Law is a team of personal injury attorneys who can help in cases where negligent supervision occurs. Our team is dedicated to your care and well-being and will fight for compensation for your injuries.
In this informative blog post, we discuss negligent supervision, the legal concepts surrounding it, and the steps you can take to recover your economic losses.
Understanding Negligent Supervision
Negligent supervision is a concept that is related to vicarious liability in which an employer may be held liable for an employee’s actions during the course of employment. It is often seen in nursing homes and daycare centers but it can and does happen in other places of employment. If a supervisor failed to keep employees safe and they suffered an injury, the supervisor could be held responsible.
In the workplace, failure to provide adequate supervision could lead to different types of employee misconduct, including sexual harassment or workplace violence. An employer’s failure to protect employees from these occurrences could result in a lawsuit if the employer knew or should have known about the transgression and done something to prevent it.
Common Negligent Supervision Cases
Supervisors and employers do not need to be involved in every single aspect of an employee’s employment. However, an employer may be held responsible when that employee does certain things, such as when an employer hires someone unsuitable, fails to prevent irresponsible conduct, or ignores allegations of misconduct among the employees.
The best way to understand whether or not you have a negligent supervision case is to take a look at some examples. Here is how negligent supervision can occur in the workplace:
- An employer ignores the sexual harassment of an employee or encourages a corporate culture that permits this type of abhorrent behavior
- A trucking company fails to provide adequate training or falsifies trucker driving logs, leading to a serious accident that requires a truck accident lawyer
- Employers who engage in negligent hiring, allowing intoxicated workers to use heavy machinery that leads to an accident that causes injuries
- Having a negligent hiring process or the negligent retention of an employee who has violent tendencies while employers do not address the issues
Negligent supervision can occur in nursing homes when staff is not managed or supervised while administering medications, leading to harm suffered by elderly residents. It can also occur in daycare settings, which can endanger the children in the care of unscrupulous caregivers.
In a workplace setting, an employer has a general duty to keep every employee safe from harm. When they fail in that duty by not taking appropriate safety measures and tortious conduct causes harm to employees, they have direct liability.
The impacts of negligent supervision can lead to a personal injury to those affected by the actions or inactions. Simply put, your employer has a legal duty to you in this employment relationship. When employers don’t supervise responsibly, you can seek justice for your injuries as a result of this lack of supervision.
What Is the Legal Criteria for Negligent Supervision?
Negligent supervision is a civil claim that requires establishing negligence. In order for employers to be held liable for negligent supervision, four elements must be met. Here is how to prove negligent supervision:
The Employer Has a Legal Duty of Care
When it comes to negligent supervision, the first thing that must be proven is that the employer had a duty of care toward the employee who suffered harm. The duty of employers legally obligates them to take reasonable steps to prevent harm through their actions or inactions.
Employers must exercise reasonable care to any employee and third party who could become injured by the actions of another employee. The employer has this duty to every employee, client, and anyone else they interact with in the course of their job duties.
The Employer Breaches This Duty
After this duty is established, it must be shown that there was a breach of duty. When an employer fails to exercise reasonable care, they may not sufficiently monitor employees, engage in negligent hiring practices by ignoring warning signs, or neglect to implement policies that would prevent harm from being done to another employee.
Causation of Personal Injury
When employers breach the duty, it must then be shown that it caused a personal injury. Sometimes called the proximate cause, the injuries you sustained must have been caused by the negligence of your employer or supervisor.
Adequate supervision could have prevented the incident that led to your harm. For example, if an employer failed to properly train an employee and that employee caused a serious work accident, the employer could be found liable if proper supervision could have prevented this occurrence.
Damages Resulted from Negligent Supervision
The last element that must be satisfied in a negligent supervision claim is that you suffered damages as a result of the breach. You could then seek to recover compensation for the damages you’ve endured. These may include the medical bills to treat your injuries, out-of-pocket expenses, and emotional distress.
It is important to note that all four of these elements must be satisfied and established for a successful claim. If only one metric is met, there are no grounds for negligent supervision.
How Employers Can Avoid Negligent Supervision and Vicarious Liability
Every company should try to avoid a claim for negligent supervision. Taking the steps to make sure responsible policies and procedures are implemented can keep the workplace safe.
Employers should refrain from negligent hiring practices and make sure they conduct background checks to avoid dangerous or unsuitable personnel. Employees should make sure to notify their supervisors of any issues and document unsavory or hazardous behaviors.
Pursuing Your Negligent Supervision Claim
If negligent hiring or supervision resulted in your injuries, you should make sure you take the right steps for your claim. Make sure you have documentation of your employment, which can establish the relationship to show that your employer has a duty of care to you.
As for the harm you suffered, liability can only be assigned if you can prove that supervision was lacking. You should document everything, including emails you’ve sent about the relevant issue, photos, and any other items that can serve as evidence of your claim.
The most important step to take with these types of claims is to contact an attorney. The best attorney to consult is one who has experience with negligent supervision cases. Many corporate settings will be backed by their own litigators who will try to deny liability. When you have legal representation, you can fight back and get the money you deserve for the harm you have endured.
Find Out If You Have a Case of Negligent Supervision
It is important to understand whether or not your case is valid before taking legal action. As mentioned previously, the four elements of negligence must be established before you can proceed with your lawsuit.
Negligent supervision in the workplace should be taken seriously. Those in charge of supervising others should not shirk their duties to ensure that care and diligence are always upheld. This legal framework sets expectations for how any employer should reasonably behave.
In the workplace, it is critical for employers to use quality hiring practices to choose qualified members to join the team. They must also provide proper training for those they choose to staff at their agency. Furthermore, supervision must be implemented to uphold the standards of care.
When any of these employer responsibilities fall by the wayside, it can be grounds for a negligent supervision claim. Any injuries or harm suffered as a result of neglecting these practices stands to endanger the welfare of all who work for the company.
If you aren’t sure whether or not this is the case, you should contact Mazzu Law for legal assistance. You can schedule a free consultation where you can learn about the potential legal options in your circumstances. This gives you the chance to run the details of your case by a lawyer who fully understands what is required to have a valid claim of negligent supervision.
Since this consultation is free, you can learn more about your legal rights and where to go from here. Contact Mazzu Law to discuss your situation and determine the next steps to take.