Lawyers share best practices to avoid committing common, costly mistakes
There’s been a rise in the number of complaints relating to workplace investigations, and employers should be mindful to do their probe the right way to avoid legal burden, according to two experts.
“We're seeing a big increase in our practice in terms of investigation complaints, and I think this is due to a couple of reasons,” says Krista Siedlak, partner at Turnpenney Milne, in a webinar titled “Top 10 mistakes in workplace investigations.”
Whether it’s dealing with mental health, Black Lives Matter, or #MeToo, these movements have “prompted a discussion in society about these broader issues,” she says.
“What that's also done is it's created a dialogue in workplaces, and it's made people feel more comfortable coming forward with concerns that they may be having at work. So because of that, employers are getting more internal complaints. And they're either dealing with it internally, or they're bringing in external experts sometimes to deal with them.”
If employers are to be found in violation, it could be costly for them, she says.
“The courts are taking an increasingly more critical look at the manner in which employers are conducting these investigations. And they are at times awarding damages, whether it be for bad faith or negligent investigation. So it's becoming even more important that employers are running investigations that are fair, and in keeping with due process and procedural fair fairness.”
Mistakes in workplace investigations
In the webinar, Siedlak and fellow Turnpenney Milne partner Emily Sheppard discuss how to navigate against the top 10 mistakes in workplace investigations, providing concrete solutions and tips on how to deal with those things.
One such mistake is failing to conduct a prompt investigation, says Sheppard.
“This includes employers failing to take complaints seriously from the outset, or even recognizing the need to conduct an investigation,” she says.
If employers commit this mistake, employees might think that their company is failing to do anything about their complaints or even condoning the misconduct that occurred. And the courts may have the same opinion, she says.
“To avoid these kinds of mistakes, we recommend taking all complaints or knowledge of potential misconduct seriously,” says Sheppard. “And once you learn a misconduct, your investigations should be conducted in a prompt and timely manner. So there's no standard length of time that an investigation should take. But generally you'll want to move fast throughout the process.”
Turnpenney Milne’s Siedlak and Sheppard discuss the rest of the top top 10 mistakes in workplace investigations in the webinar. Catch it here for free!
One expert also previously shared some best practices around workplace investigations.
