EE Investigations
evaus2
1 Post
Hello I'm new to the world of HR Management in the retail industry, and one of my weaknesses is in the area of investigations. Does anyone have any resources they would be willing to share that details how to conduct an effective investigation regarding harassment, misconduct, etc. My email any resources to
evaus2
yahoo.com
evaus2
yahoo.com 
Comments
FindLaw has a great checklist for Sex Harass investigations that could be modified for other types at :
http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/business-forms-contracts/form2-39.html
SHRM also has some good white papers on investigations.
BLR as well as Thompson's Publishing has some great guides to employee investigations. I worked in Employee Relations and you really need to make sure you have solid documentation during the investigations and that witness statements are signed and dated by that person. Best of luck to you.
Angie
HR Director
[quote user="IT HR"]One other thing to remember is that courts will look more favorably in your direction if you start the investigation within a timely manner. A couple of recent court cases I have seen talked about this being with in 24 hours of you learning about an alleged incident. The courts say you have a duty to investigate and that duty means investigate it now and not when you feel like it or when you get time. Starting the investigation right away shows that you are taking the allegations seriously and want to get to the bottom of the issue.[/quote]
Essentially, when you permit a delay, you are communicating that it is acceptable to you that (alleged) harassment continue until you have time to deal with it. Put another way, saying that you'd rather wait until tomorrow is like saying you'd rather allow sexual harassment (potentially) to continue until tomorrow.
One of the big things in investigations, since we're getting into specifics about investigations rather than resources, is to understand what, exactly, it is that you are investigating. In a harassment case, the questions to investigate are things like, "What was the behavior that was alleged to have been harassment (or a violation of the company's anti-harassment policy, which is usually more strict than the legal standard of sexual harassment)", "Who witnessed the alleged harassing behavior", "When did the reported behaviors occur," and "Where did the reportedly harassing behaviors occur"? I've seen investigatory notes that were merely stream of consciousness typing that didn't necessarily help. When you have a complaint, understanding what the questions are that you are trying to answer by investigating will help keep your investigation on track. A lot of times, it's important to see how the answers to these questions mesh. You can end up with strange situations like a bus boy reportedly harassing a waitress, reportedly in full view of the waitresses' best friend....on the roof of the building next door during working hours. That should lead you to question things like, why were they on the roof? Why were they on the building next door?
More than once in your career you will find in the course of your investigation that the complainant has violated policies and you should enforce company policy evenly, without regard for whether or not the harassment complaint was substantiated, unless the policy violations are related to, for example, steps the employee took to avoid harassment, such as hiding in the bathroom, possibly constituting unapproved absence from his or her work station.
The EEOC has a guidance regarding responses to sexual harassment complaints that has good information on what they consider to be an effective investigation. Try http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/harassment.html#VC1e
THHRGuy,
thank you for the excellent response! It answered some questions that I had as well. I specially appreciated that you noted some of the specific questions that should be asked for a specific case (harassment per your example0. I agree with you that you must understand exactly what it is that you are investigating, and to this, what I take is that you have to take some time to formulate relevant questions. Advise well taken. Are there any other resources that you've utilized that has helped you prepare in this area?? Thanks again.
I was a private investigator at one time. Learning to read people is a difficult skill to explain or aquire in formal settings or from reading books. But I can say that has been very helpful to me. I had some training that was helpful as well, that brings in less-soft skills.
If you go to a reputable online book store and search for books on interrogation you will find a wealth of information on investigations and interviews. There is generally considerable overlap between "interview" and "interrogation", depending on how they are defined.
[quote] I was a private investigator at one time. Learning to read people is a difficult skill to explain or aquire in formal settings or from reading books. But I can say that has been very helpful to me. I had some training that was helpful as well, that brings in less-soft skills.[/quote]
I was too many years ago. But the best training I have had with Interviewing and Interrogations was the " John Reid Technique". Cost effective and one of the best training sessions I have ever had. Like TxHRGuyy says it gives a sense of how to read people. Though TX is a well spoken HR Guy my personal experience in my line of work has a fairly wide scope between interviewing and interrogation. I interview candidates for hire and other HR functions but I am also used for interrogations in arson investigations.
Try this link. I hope it helps. http://www.reid.com/
I knew there was a reason I liked that TxHRGuy! [Y]