When it comes to anonymity in workplace investigations, there are various facets. One of our partners, Liliane Gingras, recently wrote a blog about the risks of promising complainants a guarantee of anonymity throughout the investigative process. However, I would like to talk about situations where complaints are made by individuals who are completely unknown to the employer.
“If you can’t write out your mandate in a short and simple paragraph, don’t start.”
When delivering our Workplace Investigation Fundamentals sessions, this is how I start the discussion on mandate. Simply put, an investigator’s mandate is the thing (or things) that they are being asked to do, the decision (or decisions) that they are being asked to make.
We speak (and blog and train) often about how to conduct a workplace investigation. However, it’s important to remember that employers need to be aware of their legal obligations relating to when to start one and how to finish it. Two recent decisions provide important information about these investigation bookends.
In August 2020, my colleague Veronica Howard and I published a blog on conducting workplace assessments under Bill C-65. At that time, Bill C-65 and the related Regulations set out the requirements that federally regulated employers were required to meet in order to satisfy their obligations under the Canada Labour Code (CLC)…
At Rubin Thomlinson we deliver a lot of training on conducting workplace investigations and often the discussion turns to the costs of conducting an investigation, whether it be the monetary costs of an external investigation or the time costs of an internal investigation. These costs are typically balanced with the benefits of conducting an effective investigation, such as allowing employees to be heard, demonstrating a commitment to a respective workplace culture by “walking the talk” of policies, clarifying what actually occurred, and implementing targeted outcomes.
One of the pillars to a sound investigation process is timeliness. Complaints and allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour must be taken seriously, and demonstrating this seriousness means giving immediate attention to the matter. That being said, those of us who receive these complaints and allegations are usually juggling many other things, and it is often
I was recently invited to speak on an Advocates’ Society panel on the subject of privilege of investigation reports. As an investigator who conducts harassment investigations, it was a fascinating discussion because the reasons for attempting to secure privilege over investigation reports of other types were compelling. For organizations dealing with issues such as major
While large organizations often have robust policies, human resources departments and, at times, human rights and/or investigation specialists to help them ensure that they are meeting the expectations of the Ontario Human Rights Code, it can be more challenging for smaller, less legally sophisticated organizations to ensure that they too are meeting expectations when faced with
