Investigation of harassment

geb

In the typical harassment situation, the identity of the wrongdoer is known. My situation is different. The wrongdoer is sending anonymous letters to the victim and her family. We have fingerprints and DNA. With respect to the fingerprints, I cannot find an applicable state law prohibiting the employer from obtaining sample fingerprints on the sly from the person it suspects as the wrongdoer. Anyone have this situation before? Any thoughts or comments? Thanks.

Balloonman1

By them a soda...........works for the cops on tv all the time.......

;-)

Balloonman

Paul in Cannon Beach

I would think that you have the right to conduct an investigation. You aren't using the DNA to determine genetic predilection for certain illnesses, etc. You simply need to identify (or eliminate from suspicion) potential suspects.

I would go to several people and say, "we are simply trying to eliminate potential suspects. I am sure you aren't involved but could you please cooperate with us?"

My guess is that the reactions you get will tell you alot. The guilty party is likely to resist or become very nervous.

Paul

SMace

Without further details, this sounds like a police matter.

ray a

If the letters are going to the victim's home, as you imply, I would advise the ee to file a report with the police. I personally experienced this nearly 20 years ago, an ee was leaving death threats on my doorstep at home. I reported it to the police and they investigated and caught the harasser.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Geb, any more details you can provide? Have the police been contacted?

atrimble

I don't know about other states, but Missouri has a polygraph protection act that a defense lawyer could probably turn into a reason not to perform fingerprinting. The point of the polygraph law is to not require an employee to incriminate him/herself, and providing fingerprints may incriminate. And in that case, I would definitely get the police involved. They're not required to adhere to employment laws like HR.

geb

More info:

The female emp'e received a very disturbing letter in the mail and the sender was anonymous. The letter was not overtly threatening, and contained job related info and sexually graphic language. Enough to say, it is a very disturbing letter. Next, certain of her family members, some out of state, received very similar letters in the mail, again disparaging the emp'e, and making job related references. Given that there were some name changes, tracking down the family members took some work. Being naturally concerned and a bit afraid, the woman complained to the employer, believing a co-employee was harassing her.

The employer, wanting to do the right thing, began an investigation. The letters have been fingerprinted and tested for DNA. DNA reveals the wrongdoer is a man, and we have prints as well (although there are a number of sources for the prints, primarily the recipients of the letters).

The employer wants to obtain prints and DNA from certain co-workers. The issues now seem to be whether the employer can compel, with threat of termination, the production of prints/DNA from other employees.

Case law suggests that refusing to participate in an internal investigation, before an EEOC complaint is filed, is not protected activity, hence the refusing employee can be terminated.

However, I have found nothing to suggest that an emp'e can be terminated for refusing to submit to a DNA swap or fingerprint .

SMace

I don't know what line of work you are in. I'm in manufacturing and there is no way I would be getting DNA samples from my ee's and firing them if they refuse. I still say this is a police matter.

ray a

And I'm still with those who say report it to the police. A little what if here. What if you continue the investigation on your own and confront the harasser and he decides to carry through some of his threats? A person who would go to the trouble he has to research family members out of state and mail them threats, is highly unstable, intelligent and capable of anything. So, he carries through a threat and the ee and/or family hires a lawyer to sue the company for not providing adequate protection because the police were not involved. The longer the company tries to hide the situation the higher the risk for liability.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Ray, thats a good point. What if the situation wasn't one that involved the possibility of violence and was a simple matter of theft? Would you still recommend reporting this to the police?

The posters original question was whether any state or federal law prohibited fingerprinting employees on the sly. Atrimble's comment on polygraphing was interesting and helpful but I think the question still remains unanswered.

Whether its a good idea or not, can an employer take fingerprints/DNA swabs as part of an investigation?

davids

I am with everyone else on reporting this to the police and post office. At this point you suspect a co-worker is sending the letters, but you really don't know. What if it isn't a co-worker? Let the police investigate. If it turns out to be a co-worker, you can then use their findings to take an employment action.

VS

I would also make sure that your personnel files are secured. At this point, you do not know how this "person" was able to locate other family members of your employee. If the perp is also an employee, does he have the capability to access files or get info from someone from within the dept. Just food for thought!

atrimble

I agree with VS - I don't know why I didn't think of this angle! If you have employee data available through an intranet, even though it's password protected or you have network permissions set on it, you may want to review who has access to that info, and pare it down to the bare minimums until the investigation is concluded. If police get involved, they should be asking for this anyway. It also might be a good idea to force password changes on PCs and the network for all employees with computer access.