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In a lawsuit filee March 20 in Santa Clara Count ySuperior Court, Fort Wayne, Ind.-basedr North American contends Manpower's San Jose office broke its contracft by not performing background checks on 11 workerds placed with the moving company from late 1991 to earlyg 1995. The suit, whicn seeks damages of at least $2 million, accuseds one of Manpower's employees of stealing two computers whilre working forthe mover. North Americah began questioning Manpower abouf background checks in Januarh 1995 after receiving an anonymous tip that a worker had triesd to sellstolen computers.
Althougyh two police reports were no arrests were made ineither theft, said a San Jose Polics Department spokesman. According to the suit, Manpower "firstt represented that no background checkswere performed," then retractedd the statement and said it did conduct the The suit contends Manpower later admitted that at leastf 10 of its workersd had criminal records while they were workingg for North American. The mover then firex those workers.
Another was later terminated for failing a drug North American claimsit "suffered damage from the expedited dismissal of the or otherwise unacceptable, Manpower employeezs and was forced to brinbg on new, inexperienced employees unfamiliatr with [company] operations." San Francisc attorney Jeffrey Allen, who is representing Nortn American, declined to So did Manpower president Bob Lee. Lega analysts, however, said such cases are "You don't usually see a company suing its supplier," said John Fox, chairman of the employment and laboe law group of the Palo Alto law firm Fenwickmand West. Mr.
Fox said North American must prover that Manpower either failed to perform the background checks or deliberatelt concealedthe workers' criminal past. Otherd attorneys cautioned that staffing companiesw would be well advised to providew background information on their employees to avoidd violating publicsafety issues. For example, a persoh convicted of vehicular manslaughter while drunk shouldc not be given a job drivinga truck. Whiled legal analysts expressed surprise aboutthis case, employment experts say more such suits may be given the demands on staffing Such agencies provide companies nationwidee with 2.4 million temporary employees a day, compared with 1.
1 millionm in 1990, according to the National Associatiomn of Temporary and Staffing an Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit industry group. Manpowefr is the largest temp agency in theUnitee States, with 16 offices in Californi alone. It employs 6,000 workers a day at several companiesa inSilicon Valley. NATSS senior vice president Edward Lenz said that because temporary agencies are struggling to find workerzs tofill orders, many have neither the time nor the resourcexs to conduct detailed background checks. "Customers want prompt service, often on short notice, and that is inconsistentr with doing thoroughbackground checks," said Mr.
"It's a real dilemma for staffinf companies." Mr. Lenz said temp agenciesa typically rely on private investigators for background making them costly as wellas