The average defamation lawsuit filed by a former employee costs a company $60,000 to defend before anyone even sees a jury. Add negligent supervision, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or invasion of privacy to the complaint, and the legal fees climb fast. Employment torts are the civil side of workplace disputes. They live outside the EEOC process, which means a plaintiff can walk past the agency route and file directly in state court. For HR teams, the prevention playbook looks different from the one used for EEOC charges, and the stakes are often higher because tort damages are not capped the way some statutory damages are.
The Most Common Employment Tort Claims Defamation sits at the top of the list. It usually shows up when a reference call or an internal email about a former employee's performance is framed as a false statement of fact that damaged the person's reputation. Intentional infliction of emotional distress comes second, often tied to extreme harassment that goes unaddressed.
Negligent hiring and negligent supervision target the company directly. The theory is that the employer knew or should have known an employee posed a risk and failed to act. Invasion of privacy claims often involve improper monitoring, public disclosure of medical information, or searches that cross legal lines.
What Plaintiffs Actually Have to Prove Each tort has its own elements, but most share a pattern: a duty owed, a breach of that duty, harm caused by the breach, and damages. For defamation , the plaintiff has to show a false statement of fact was published to a third party and caused harm. Opinions and truthful statements are not defamation, even if they sting.
What's the Difference Between an Employment Tort and a Discrimination Claim? Discrimination claims run through the EEOC or a state fair employment agency first. Tort claims go to civil court directly, often with broader discovery and bigger compensatory damages. Many plaintiffs file both.
How HR Teams Should Respond to Tort Risk Investigate every complaint. A documented investigation, even one that finds no wrongdoing, is the single strongest defense against negligent supervision claims. Train managers to stick to documented performance facts when giving references, and never let them speculate about reasons for termination in writing.
Background check every hire for roles with safety exposure. Negligent hiring cases almost always involve a missed red flag that a basic check would have caught. Document the background check and the hiring decision.
Building an Employment Torts Defense That Holds Up A real defense against employment torts starts long before a complaint arrives. It starts with consistent documentation, a functioning complaint channel, and prompt, fair investigations. Plaintiffs' lawyers look for patterns. A company that treats one complaint as a one-off and misses three more on the same team looks very different in discovery than a company that tracks, investigates, and closes the loop on every report.
Tools like AllVoices's HR case management software help centralize complaint intake, investigation notes, and outcomes so the record is complete when litigation starts. Paired with employee relations workflows, the documentation trail shifts from a liability to a defense. The EEOC's litigation statistics show a rising rate of parallel tort filings alongside agency charges, which makes investigation quality the most important single control.
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