Investigating employee complaints may or may not be your favorite duty but it is inevitable if you work in human resources. Is the complaint legitimate, partially legitimate, total hogwash? It's your job to find out, unless you hire a lawyer to do the investigation, which may be advisable, particularly in sticky or complex situations. You need to get the story from the complaining party first, ask whether there are witnesses or other evidence, decide whether you want the complaint in writing or not, etc. Then, you need to interview the party complained about, while trying to maintain confidentiality. If there are disagreements between the two stories (usually there is, but not always or not completely), you may need to talk to witnesses, those identified by the grievant and often some others, including witnesses identified by the party complained about and often other independent witnesses. Is someone's best friend a reliable witness? Does someone have an agenda other than the truth? What is the given person's track record regarding honesty? These are the types of things that you may need to be thinking about, just like a police detective. Document gathering and review is often required as well and, in some cases, can be dispositive. In addition, complaints need to be investigated promptly or you will have additional problems under the law.
It is easy to jump to conclusions after hearing the complaint. But, follow a thorough investigation process with an open mind. Most times, you should be able to determine the truth, very rarely are the results of the investigation indeterminate. You may need to take some disciplinary action all the way through termination if the complaint has merit and should also talk again to the complaining party thanking him/her for the complaint and describing very briefly your conclusion. Give a reminder that retaliation for making a complaint is not allowed under company policy and that any retaliation should be immediately reported. You may need to follow up with the complaining party later to make sure things are going well at work.
Get some guidance from an attorney on these matters. Be thorough, professional, and unbiased. Your investigative work may come under legal scrutiny later, always remember that. Different situations may call for different investigative techniques and investigators. As with all things, there is no paint by numbers approach here. A well-functioning internal grievance and investigative process is an invaluable aid in avoiding or at least minimizing litigation and just makes good sense from a business, company culture, and human resources point of view. Go forth as highly skilled workplace detectives. Get to the bottom of the matter but maybe not in quite the same manner or dress as Ace Ventura! http://www.employmentlawman.com/monday-morning-musings.html
It is easy to jump to conclusions after hearing the complaint. But, follow a thorough investigation process with an open mind. Most times, you should be able to determine the truth, very rarely are the results of the investigation indeterminate. You may need to take some disciplinary action all the way through termination if the complaint has merit and should also talk again to the complaining party thanking him/her for the complaint and describing very briefly your conclusion. Give a reminder that retaliation for making a complaint is not allowed under company policy and that any retaliation should be immediately reported. You may need to follow up with the complaining party later to make sure things are going well at work.
Get some guidance from an attorney on these matters. Be thorough, professional, and unbiased. Your investigative work may come under legal scrutiny later, always remember that. Different situations may call for different investigative techniques and investigators. As with all things, there is no paint by numbers approach here. A well-functioning internal grievance and investigative process is an invaluable aid in avoiding or at least minimizing litigation and just makes good sense from a business, company culture, and human resources point of view. Go forth as highly skilled workplace detectives. Get to the bottom of the matter but maybe not in quite the same manner or dress as Ace Ventura! http://www.employmentlawman.com/monday-morning-musings.html
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