Complaint Investigations: How to be Thorough AND Avoid Legal Pitfalls

The better your organization handles employee complaint investigations, the less likely you'll ever get dragged into a costly, time-consuming lawsuit. And if you do find yourself in court - accused of retaliation, invasion of privacy, bias toward either the accused or the accuser, failure to take decisive action, lack of documentation, or several of the above - you'll find that an airtight investigation can be your best defense.

Our speaker will show participants how to design and conduct investigations into all sorts of employee complaints. He'll talk about the assumptions you should bring to each investigation, and devote special attention to the tension investigators feel trying to achieve two, often conflicting, goals: 1) maintaining confidentiality and 2) digging deep to gather sufficient evidence. Participants will learn common but often unpredictable traps investigators fall into, as well as how to avoid them.

Learning Objectives:

• Design an appropriate investigation based on identifying goals such as: avoiding litigation, creating cultures of compliance, avoiding retaliation, avoiding adverse publicity, avoiding investigations by government agencies and enhancing the likelihood of success if litigation is not avoidable.
• Design an appropriate investigation based on the employee complaint, including: personnel issues, discrimination, harassment and retaliation whistle-blowing about safety, health or financial fraud at publicly-traded companies the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act government contracting regulations regarding fraud, waste & abuse and ethics violations.
• Determine whether to investigate using internal or external resources, including consideration of attorney-client and attorney work product privileges.
• Set an appropriate tone for the investigation with complainants and witnesses, including expectations about confidentiality and about protection from retaliation.
• Respond to common questions in investigations such as representation of employees by union representatives, co-workers or attorneys.
• Respond to anonymous complaints in manners designed to enable communication with employees who submit anonymous complaints.
• Determine what level of documentation is appropriate for the investigation.
• Conclude the investigation in a manner designed to take into account the interests of all persons involved in the investigation.

Presented by:

Daniel P. Westman

Daniel P. Westman is a partner in the law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP, resident in its Northern Virginia office. He has counseled employers about investigations in numerous industries including financial services, nuclear energy, information technology, government contracting, aerospace, life sciences, and professional services. He is the author of Whistleblowing: The Law of Retaliatory Discharge, Second Edition (BNA Books 2004 & 2005 Supp.).

Continuing Education:

• This program has been approved for 1.0 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Recertification Institute (HRCI). Please note: HRCI credit is earned only by attending the live conference. CD only purchases do not qualify for HRCI credits. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage.