Seminar on Conducting Internal Investigations at San Francisco

Overview:

It seems that employees love to complain about anything, and it seems impossible to investigate everything. When employees feel, however, that you are not taking their complaints seriously enough or that you are ignoring them, they will find external sources for their complaints. These external sources range anywhere from the EEOC, the NLRB, Wage and Hour, private attorneys, and juries!! And juries love to punish you when they feel that you ignored an employee's legitimate complaint.

But what are legitimate complaints? We all know that an employer has a legal responsibility to investigate some complaints but not others. Can you make the distinction?

How you handle internal complaints can make all the difference of whether an employee goes externally with their complaints. It can make all the difference in whether the government or jury will find that you took immediate action and took prompt remedial action for legitimate complaints.

After all, is the time to learn how to do an internal investigation when you are suddenly faced with having to do one? Of course not. That's where our training can help!

Who will benefit:

• Human Resource Managers
• Risk Managers

Day 1:

Lecture 1:

Why employees complain

• Why employees complain - and what they complain about
• Identifying valid complaints
• Should HR even be involved?
• Leadership and organizational issues that must be addressed to minimize the risk of litigation

Lecture 2:

What is protected activity

• Laws with Whistleblower Provisions: Title VII, ADEA, PDA, ADAAA, IRCA, USERRA, FMLA, FLSA, DFWA, FCRA, NLRA, OSHA, ECPA, SEC
• In-depth review of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and anti-discrimination and harassment laws
• Employer obligations regarding when and how to conduct workplace investigations
• What is prompt remedial action?
  • Retaliation: Review of Supreme Court case that has redefined retaliation-and how to avoid claims

Lecture 3:

Other Potential Laws from the States

• Common laws that create additional "boundaries"
• Retaliation: Review of Supreme Court case that has redefined retaliation-and how to avoid claims
• Avoiding claims of negligent hiring, supervision, retention, and investigation
• Assault & Battery: Knowing your responsibilities in handling toxic and dangerous employee situations
• Defamation: Understanding slander and libel and how to avoid claims
• Privacy: Understanding the three kinds of privacy issues
• How to handle electronic communications and employee use - and abuse - of social media
• Necessary company policies to minimize risks

Lecture 4:

Planning the Investigation

• Preplanning the investigation
• How to determine who is an appropriate investigator
• The skills an effective investigator must possess
• The three things you must consider when selecting investigative team members
• The potential pitfalls - and politics - to assess problems before a case begins
• How to resolve leadership conflicts and turf issues in order to set the stage for an investigation
• The preparation needed to minimize "he said/she said" investigations

Day 2:

Lecture 1:

Conducting Effective Interviews

• Learning that preparation is the key to effective witness interviewing
• Choosing and setting up an appropriate space for conducting effective interviews
• Weingarten rights and requirements for interviewing in union shop environments
• The "Bulls Eye" interviewing technique to keep your questioning on track
• How to determine if a witness is telling the truth - or telling you a "story"
• Techniques to gain witness cooperation and overcome reluctance
• Strategies on how to deal with aggressive witnesses who fail to cooperate

Lecture 2:

Reporting Your Findings

• How to conduct a preliminary meeting to identify potential organizational risks
• How to communicate assertively to stand behind your investigative work
• How to present findings, succinctly, to enable leaders to visualize organizational impacts
• Identifying current policies - and past practices - before making decisions
• Recognizing leadership decisions that can lead to negligent retention claims
• Determining when it becomes necessary to leverage internal or external legal team support

Lecture 3:

Organizing Your Evidence

• Using contemporary software to streamline the documentation collection and collation process
• How to align allegations against applicable policies and laws
• How to evaluate evidence to determine if you have collected enough

Lecture 4:

Writing the Investigative Report

• The various formats for investigative reports: memos vs. formal report structures
• How to write an effective report that demonstrates good faith and minimizes risk
• What does go into an investigative report-and what does not
• When a case really is a "he said/she said" to keep leadership from making a poor decision
• Effective communication to complainants and witnesses in order to close out a case
• How to set up appropriate security protocols to safeguard investigative documents
• How to avoid legal liability for prematurely disclosing or destroying evidence

Speaker:

Susan Fahey Desmond 
Partner, New Orleans Office, Jackson Lewis LLP

Susan Fahey Desmond is a principal with Jackson Lewis PC. She has been representing management in all areas of labor and employment law for over 30 years. A noted author and speaker, Ms. Desmond is listed in Best Lawyers in America and has been named by Chambers USA as one of America’s leading business lawyers.

Location: SFO, CA Date: June 2nd & 3rd, 2016 Time: 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Venue: WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON

Price: $1,095.00   (Seminar fee for One Delegate)

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