Davis V. the Board of County Commissioners of Dona Ana County Case

Davis v. The Board of County Commissioners of Dona Ana County

HRM510 – Business Employment Law

July 18, 2014

Davis v. The Board of County Commissioners of Dona Ana County

Legal Issue

The case of Davis v. The Board of County Commissioners of Dona Ana County questions if a former employer bears responsibility to inform the potential employer of any information that would jeopardize others whom currently work for or has a relationship with the potential employer. The court presiding over the case must conclude if Dona County detention center, the defendant former employer intentional withheld pertinent information regarding the defendant prior behaviors with females would cause foreseeable harm to employees and clients of Mesilla Valley Hospital.

A manager at the detention center provided the defendant with a glowing letter of reference upon resigning from his position. The question is not whether the manager should have given such a letter but if by doing so and omitting information about disciplinary actions that were being taken gave a negligent referral in turn causing Mesilla Valley Hospital to hire an unfit worker. Former employers do have some responsibility to other employers when given references either in writing or verbally. They should be caution as to the information they share and the information they don’t. Their concern should be one that considers the social impact that misleading information can cause.

Understanding the difference between defamation and accurate facts can save employers costly legal actions and bad reputations. Regardless of the time, money and headache the problem employee saves an employer by leaving their position, information of their employment record is the potential employers safe guard. An applicant’s criminal background check may return positive results but that does not mean problems don’t exist. Information of prior employment problems or questionable behavior will not be present on such investigative results. This is why reference checks are important to the hiring process.

Court Decision

The New Mexico court concluded that Dona Ana County was liable for negligent referral because the defendant’s supervisor intentional withheld information from Mesilla Valley Hospital that would have assisted with determining employment. Instead the hospital hired an unfit employee who was a potential and subsequent harm to clients. The court undertook the consideration that employers owe a duty of care to third parties as well as prospective employers to whom the recommendation is given (Welsh, 2010, p. 149). This can be interpreted to simply mean former employers must show due diligence in providing truthful information.

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