When delivery drivers with dangerous histories cause accidents, their employers may face negligent hiring liability. Companies that fail to properly screen drivers—or that hire drivers they know pose risks—bear direct responsibility for the foreseeable harm those drivers cause.
What Is Negligent Hiring?
Negligent hiring occurs when an employer hires someone they knew or should have known was unfit for the position, and that person causes harm that their unfitness made foreseeable. For delivery drivers, this means companies must screen for factors that predict dangerous driving.
Unlike vicarious liability (which makes employers automatically liable for employee negligence), negligent hiring is direct liability based on the company's own failure to exercise reasonable care in selection.
Screening Requirements
Reasonable driver screening includes driving record checks for accidents, violations, and license status, criminal background checks for relevant offenses, drug and alcohol testing, verification of valid driver's license and required endorsements, employment history verification, and reference checks.
Companies that skip or shortcut these screening steps may be liable when hired drivers cause accidents that proper screening would have prevented.
Red Flags That Should Disqualify Drivers
Certain history should disqualify applicants from delivery driving positions. Prior DUI convictions within relevant periods, multiple at-fault accidents, suspended or revoked licenses, reckless driving or vehicular assault convictions, drug-related offenses, and falsified application information.
Hiring someone with these red flags—or failing to check for them—constitutes negligence when that person later causes an accident.
Gig Economy Screening Challenges
App-based delivery services face particular scrutiny over driver screening. The pressure to quickly onboard drivers may lead to inadequate background checks. Gig platforms often conduct less rigorous screening than traditional delivery companies.
If a gig platform's screening fails to catch dangerous driving history, negligent hiring claims may apply despite the independent contractor relationship.
Continuing Duty to Monitor
Negligent retention extends hiring duties throughout employment. If companies learn of driver safety issues and continue using that driver, they may be liable for subsequent accidents.
Companies must have systems to learn about driver incidents—accidents, complaints, traffic violations—and take appropriate action. Ignoring warning signs about current drivers creates retention liability.
Evidence in Negligent Hiring Cases
Building negligent hiring claims requires the driver's complete driving record and history, the company's hiring policies and whether they were followed, what background checks were actually performed, what information the company received and how they evaluated it, how the driver's history compares to the company's stated standards, and records of any post-hire incidents the company knew about.
Discovery can reveal whether companies followed their own screening procedures or cut corners in hiring.
Why Negligent Hiring Matters
Negligent hiring claims are particularly important because they're direct claims against the company (not dependent on employee status), they may support punitive damages for reckless disregard of safety, they apply even when vicarious liability arguments face challenges, and they highlight systemic company failures beyond individual driver negligence.
Punitive Damages
When companies consciously disregard driver safety risks—hiring drivers they know are dangerous, or failing to implement any screening—punitive damages may be available. Punitive damages punish egregious conduct and deter similar behavior.
Evidence that the company prioritized rapid hiring over safety screening supports punitive damage claims.
Pursuing Negligent Hiring Claims
If you were injured by a delivery driver, investigate whether the driver had a history that should have prevented their hiring. Your attorney can subpoena hiring records, background checks, and company screening policies.
Proving the company should have known the driver was dangerous—and hired them anyway—creates powerful liability beyond simple negligence claims.