When hearing about an issue in the workplace, it is usually necessary to generate a workplace investigation and go through the proper disciplinary actions if needed. Here are a few Do’s and Don’ts when dealing with a workplace investigation to make sure it is thorough and lawful.
Do’s:
- Take all complaints seriously: Make sure you encourage reporting issues in your workplace because employees may fear retaliation. Also, provide ways and make them known on how to report an issue. Document all complaints.
- Conduct an initial interview: By doing an interview, you can make sure whether or not an investigation is needed. For example, if it is a small misunderstanding, an investigation may not be needed.
- Take steps to prevent retaliation: Make sure you include anti-retaliation provisions in EEO, anti-harassment, and other applicable policies. By doing this, employees will be less likely to fear retaliation.
- Interview individuals separately: First, identify who you will be interviewing (the complainant, witnesses, and the accused). When interviewing, look for inconsistencies, more evidence, and names of other witnesses.
- Preserve evidence: Make sure to preserve any evidence possible such as emails, videos, or instant messages. It is important to document these and keep them in business records.
- Protect confidentiality to the extent possible: You cannot promise confidentiality to an employee. You may keep as much as possible confidential, but there are some situations in which confidentiality must be broken.
- Compile a report of findings: In a report, make sure to include chronology of events, lists of witnesses, facts of the case, evidence, and any conclusions you have made.
- Maintain a separate investigation file: This is separate from personnel files. It should include: all interview notes, all communications with witnesses, all written witness statements, all documents that support/refute the allegation, the investigator’s report, and all documentation notifying applicable parties of the investigation results and any remedial action taken.
- Consult legal counsel: It may be useful to consult legal counsel before an investigation because it may become part of a lawsuit if the employee files a legal claim.
Don’ts
- Don’t jump to conclusions: Finish the whole investigation thoroughly before make a decision on whether or not a violation took place.
- Don’t choose an investigator with conflict of interest: If you choose an investigator with a conflict of interest it could undermine the credibility of your investigation.
- Don’t have a blanket rule concerning confidentiality: You may want to ask employees to avoid discussing the investigation with each other in order to get accurate evidence however the NLRB held that having a blanket ban on discussing ongoing investigations is generally not permitted.
- Don’t forget to follow up: Notify both parties of your findings and the corrective action you plan to take, if there is one. Also, within a certain time frame, check up on the complainant to make sure the misconduct is no longer occurring.
