Early intervention into employee disputes offers a greater opportunity to resolve differences before the conflict grows into a discrimination,harassment, or hostile working environment claim. But there are a lot of reasons employers are reluctant to get involved early on fear of making things worse; too busy; belief that employees will (or – should) resolve issues on their conflict; not sure how to get started; not own; don’t like really their business; etc. With a broad issue investigation program, employers have a routine way of addressing conflict early, which will be of particular help in these days of heightened awareness of bullying and increased stealth opportunities for employees to behave badly through social networking and electronic communications. Developing An Issue Investigation Program Traditional advice for employers aiming to reduce the risk of discrimination and harassment claims is to: Adopt and communicate a written policy against discrimination and harassment with a complaint reporting procedure and protection against retaliation; Train supervisors regarding their responsibilities; Educate the workforce about appropriate workplace behavior and how to report; Promptly investigate all complaints; and Take appropriate corrective action. This is great, legally compliant, advice. But years of representing employers in discrimination and harassment litigation have led to the recommendation of this expanded, broadened Issue Investigation Program. Problems prompting: employer that an employee dispute would grow into discrimination or didn’t recognize harassment; poor record-keeping; lack of consistency in investigation scope and procedures; poor investigatory skills; poor documentation coupled with less than perfect memories; employees excused for not reporting because they believe it would do didn’t any good; or so many missed opportunities to have jumped in and fixed a conflict early on. Employers may be concerned about creating documentation that tends to show a lot of or issues in the workplace. However, the benefits of being able to “problems” show a solid investigation program, including promptly addressing issues big and small can outweigh the liabilities. Additionally, such documentation can be used to a “prove that the employer has not had numerous types of employee complaints, that negative” – no one had complained about a particular employee before, etc. Keys to the Issue Investigation Program are: An employer that is serious about creating a more appropriate, Broad Policy – respectful workplace and addressing bullying and other juvenile behavior that may not
Early intervention into employee disputes offers a greater opportunity to resolve differences before the conflict grows into a discrimination,harassment, or hostile working environment claim. But there are a lot of reasons employers are reluctant to get involved early on – fear of making things worse; too busy; belief that employees will (or should) resolve issues on their own; don’t like conflict; not sure how to get started; not really their business; etc. With a broad issue investigation program, employers have a routine way of addressing conflict early, which will be of particular help in these days of heightened awareness of bullying and increased stealth opportunities for employees to behave badly through social networking and electronic communications. Developing An Issue Investigation Program Traditional advice for employers aiming to reduce the risk of discrimination and harassment claims is to: Adopt and communicate a written policy against discrimination and harassment with a complaint reporting procedure and protection against retaliation; Train supervisors regarding their responsibilities; Educate the workforce about appropriate workplace behavior and how to report; Promptly investigate all complaints; and Take appropriate corrective action. This is great, legally compliant, advice. But years of representing employers in discrimination and harassment litigation have led to the recommendation of this expanded, broadened Issue Investigation Program. Problems prompting: employer didn’t recognize that an employee dispute would grow into discrimination or harassment; poor record-keeping; lack of consistency in investigation scope and procedures; poor investigatory skills; poor documentation coupled with less than perfect memories; employees excused for not reporting because they didn’t believe it would do any good; or so many missed opportunities to have jumped in and fixed a conflict early on. Employers may be concerned about creating documentation that tends to show a lot of “problems” or issues in the workplace. However, the benefits of being able to show a solid investigation program, including promptly addressing issues big and small can outweigh the liabilities. Additionally, such documentation can be used to “prove a negative” – that the employer has not had numerous types of employee complaints, that no one had complained about a particular employee before, etc. Keys to the Issue Investigation Program are: Broad Policy – An employer that is serious about creating a more appropriate, respectful workplace and addressing bullying and other juvenile behavior that may not
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