Emotional Distress
An employee, who was hoping to find a new career, sent her résumé to a permanent staffing firm. The staffing professional saw a career description for Company XYZ that she thought would suit her employee well and sent the résumé to Company XYZ. The résumé was sent to a subsidiary of the employee's current employer, which was an oversight by the staffing professional. The employee was then subject to ridicule and harassment by her managers and soon quit her job due to this treatment. The employee sued the permanent staffing firm for emotional distress and lost wages. Defense costs alone for this claim exceeded $40,000.

Programming Error
A computer programmer was sent to Company EFG to perform some maintenance on the company's system. This programmer had impeccable references from some of the largest computer companies in the nation and came highly recommended from all his past employers. On the last day of the assignment, the programmer read some code incorrectly and deleted financial data that the company had no way to retrieve. Company EFG sued the staffing firm for $5 million.

Discrimination
A man read an employment advertisement from a staffing firm and believed he was a viable candidate for the job. The man called the firm and talked with a staffing professional who believed this man was a qualified candidate for the job and was eager to have the man interview for the advertised position. They set up an interview for the following morning. When the man arrived, the staffing professional saw that he was overweight and had acne. The staffing professional declined to meet with the man and denied ever speaking with the man about the advertised position. The man sued the staffing firm for discrimination and won a settlement for $1 million. Defense fees exceeded $50,000.

Harassment
A temporary employee was assigned to Company XYZ for a two-week period. Ten working days into the position, the employee complained to the staffing firm that the two managers were continually asking him out for drinks. He continually said no and wanted to leave this assignment early to avoid any further confrontation. The staffing firm asked the employee to "hang in there" and said they would call Company XYZ to put a stop to the behavior. For the next few days, the employee continued to be harassed and finally left Company XYZ. The employee sued the staffing firm for subjecting him to continual harassment. The employee won the case for $500,000.