Lawsuit for Kentucky nursing home

Lexington Herald-Leader, a nursing home in Kentucky has had a lawsuit filed against them for hiring a maintenance worker with a criminal background. Laws in Kentucky state that criminal background checks must be filed only against individuals who work directly with residents, but not against ‘support staff’ such as food staff, maintenance staff and custodians. Cora Alexandria Combs, a former nurse’s aide the nursing home, said in a lawsuit that Fred Allen Leonard sexually harassed and stalked her. Leonard has a status as a registered sex offender, which obviously also put residents at risk as well as the other staff. While the nursery home ran a credit check on Leonard, they did not run a criminal check. Many would claim it to be common sense to run a full pre-employment background check on an employee who is applying for a job linked to the care industry, regardless of whether the position will be directly or indirectly related to those who need care. In the same way that everyone who works at a school ought to be checked, whether they teach or not. Hopefully this lawsuit will increase awareness at these examples of businesses cutting corners – taking safety risks in order to save a few bucks. When it comes to safety, money is not top of the agenda. That seems to be a lesson that we as a society have yet to learn.