IN OTHER WORDS, IT’S COMPLICATED.

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Hardly a day goes by without a news item that tells us that a company has gone outside the organization to engage a workplace investigator to get to the bottom of an allegation of bad behavior. Who said what and to whom? Who did what and to what purpose? What did they mean to convey by word or deed? In other words, it’s complicated.

For the investigation to have value to your client, it must provide them, and you, with an impartial, in-depth understanding of the controversy. One of the distinguishing features of employment law is the prominent role of psychology. A primary task for the investigator is to understand and put in writing insights that allow you and your client to understand what a person’s behavior reveals about their real motives and intentions. Without a commitment by the workplace investigator to impartiality, and the skill to realize it, it is impossible to produce a useful work product.

Here is a brief checklist you can use to help in selecting a workplace investigator:

  • Establish the purpose of the investigation (i.e., for legal advice versus business/remedial purposes.) and make it clear in the engagement letter with the workplace investigator.

  • Select an investigator that everyone involved in the controversy will accept as impartial.

  • Select an investigator familiar with the law because workplace investigations are conducted against the backdrop of complicated statutes, rules and case law.

  • The workplace investigator should make a good witness who will be credible and effective on the stand if the case winds up in a courtroom.

  • Make sure that the workplace investigator you select is an experienced investigator who can engage with people, create trust and make it possible for everyone to tell their story fully; Interviewing skills are different from the skills required to take a deposition or cross-examine a witness.

  • The time to conduct a workplace investigation can be hard to predict so the investigator must have available the hours necessary to do a thorough investigation and deliver it expeditiously.

  • Satisfy yourself that the workplace investigator can deliver a complete, accurate and readable report.

Call me at 727-822-0357 to discuss how to design a workplace investigation best suited to your client’s situation.