A pre-employment background investigation could have saved a client hundreds of thousands of dollars. The client hired a Vice President of Operations solely based on references. Twelve months after the employee was hired, he was offered an equity position in the company, which he accepted through a signed agreement. Later that month he was involved in an accident at a work site on company time, which went unobserved. He was granted a workers’ compensation leave, where he remained for over a year. He was receiving a six figure income and still had an equity stake in the company. The client became embroiled in costly litigation regarding this matter and spent tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees as a result.

The client requested a background investigation for the purposes of conducting the litigation. The background investigation of the employee revealed a Federal criminal record for attempted fraud, a previous workers’ compensation claim, one Federal bankruptcy and eighteen civil lawsuits related to non-payment of debt and contract disputes, three of which were related to former employers. The client remains in litigation which has cost the company significant resources, time and money. This would have been avoided if the client had conducted a pre-employment background investigation prior to hiring the individual.