July 21, 2005 |
Posted By Diane Pfadenhauer |
Workplace Investigations - Tip # 7
Confidentiality - The subject of confidentiality in investigations is worthy of several posts as there are a variety of issues. For our purposes today, imagine the following scenario: an employee feels he is the victim of discrimination or feels that he is being mistreated in some way in the workplace. He approaches a member of management and says "Something is bothering me but I don't want you to tell anyone about it." The manager has two choices.
- The first is the wrong choice. That would be to stop the employee, literally mid sentence, and to say something like "Don't tell me, 'cause if you do, I'll have to report it to HR." Why is this a bad option? Because now the employer is on notice that something is amiss. During the deposition, plaintiff counsel will ask the manager about his conversation with the employee. I can see it now. A beautiful picture will be painted portraying the supervisor as on notice, disinterested, and self-serving even though the supervisor may be been trying to maintain the confidentiality of the issue.
- The right option is to advise the employee that as a manager one of his obligations to to attempt to resolve issues which may arise in the workplace (after all, aren't managers supposed to help foster an environment free of misconduct and one where employees can get their jobs done?). He should encourage the employee to discuss his concerns and advise him that as a member of management he has certain obligations (to look into the matter further, to report it to HR, etc.). He should try to put the employee at ease and work diligently to help to resolve the problem. In the event the employee still does not want to talk, then the supervisor should follow the guidelines established by the company - which are typically to advise HR who would likely follow up with the employee. Imagine the portrait being painted now - the manager has taken sincere steps to help the employee, reached out to HR and there is further follow up to ascertain if there is a problem.