From investigator selection to documentation, HR plays key role in safeguarding trust and legal defensibility, say two experts
Culture and talent are usually fundamental to an organization’s success, but the strength of that strategy can be exposed when a workplace complaint or suspicions of workplace misconduct are raised. How an organization sets its approach to investigate such matters can be crucial to minimize legal exposure, reputational damage, and a collapse of trust.
A key element for maintaining a fair and effective workplace investigation process is a strong HR leader directing the process, says Krista Siedlak, a partner and workplace investigator at Turnpenney Milne in Toronto.
“What an ideal strategic partner would be doing is they would have a good sense of what the complaint is about and who the parties are,” says Siedlak. “They're available to provide us with instructions... they’re good at assessing the pros and cons of certain situations and then directing us accordingly. At the end of the day, external investigators take direction from the HR leader [or their team], they determine our scope, our mandate, and what kind of report we need.”
“There’s a longstanding principle of procedural fairness, which generally means giving the people involved in an investigation a fair opportunity to respond and know the case,” says Trevor Thomas, co-founder of Ascent Employment Law in Vancouver and a workplace investigator.
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