Damages - fellow servant rule abolished - limitation on admission of criminal history

(1) Every corporation or individual who employs agents, servants, or employees, such agents, servants, or employees being in the exercise of due care, shall be liable to respond in damages for injuries or death sustained by any such agent, servant, or employee resulting from the carelessness, omission of duty, or negligence of such employer, or which may have resulted from the carelessness, omission of duty, or negligence of any other agent, servant, or employee of the employer, in the same manner and to the same extent as if the carelessness, omission of duty, or negligence causing the injury or death was that of the employer. (2) (a) Information regarding the criminal history of an employee or former employee may not be introduced as evidence in a civil action against an employer or its employees or agents that is based on the conduct of the employee or former employee if: (I) The nature of the criminal history does not bear a direct relationship to the facts underlying the cause of action; or (II) Before the occurrence of the act giving rise to the civil action, a court order sealed any record of the criminal case or the employee or former employee received a pardon; or (III) The record is of an arrest or charge that did not result in a criminal conviction; or (IV) The employee or former employee received a deferred judgment at sentence and the deferred judgment was not revoked. (b) This subsection (2) does not supersede any statutory requirement to conduct a criminal history background investigation or consider criminal history records in hiring for particular types of employment.