Workplace disputes are common in any working environment. Where there are allegations of possible misconduct or possible breaches of workplace laws, you must conduct an internal workplace investigation. The best way to proceed is to get an investigative consultant to coach you through the process. This is especially true for industries such as disability service providers, schools, medical centres and aged care where your employees are caring for others.
You may need to conduct an investigation for a number of reasons:
First, if a complaint comes from another employee, you need to investigate in order to make sure that all your employees feel safe in the workplace. Failing to keep your employees safe within the workplace is a serious breach and can result in loss of employees or litigation. Having an external workplace investigator helps separate the employer from the situation, reducing any risk that the business can be blamed for any investigative conclusions.
Second, if you wish to dismiss any employee, you will need to prove that they have repudiated their contract of employment. To do this, you may wish to have an external professional investigate any complaints and come to an unbiased opinion on whether the employee has repudiated their contract.
What may be considered misconduct in a workplace?
Misconduct can be broken down into two forms, General and Serious.
General misconduct will be smaller, but serious issues such as frequent lateness, unexplained absences and making personal calls on the company phone. If such behaviour becomes a habit for an employee, you may wish to warn the employee and if it continues, have an external investigator come in and form a conclusion of what has happened and what the next steps should be.
Serious misconduct may allow for summary dismissal and are serious breaches of either the contract of employment or workplace laws. Such conduct would be a threat to a person or the business and may be illegal or dangerous. If you have had a complaint about an employee for something that would fall into this category, you may wish to have an external investigator come in and form a conclusion as to the validity of the complaint and guide you through what to do next.
What doesn’t need to be investigated?
The following common workplace situations do not need to be investigated:
- Complaints on behalf of another person
- Complaints that are not specific, such as overmanagement
- Complaints about organisational structure or organisational restructuring
- Complaints older than 6 months
- Complaints about non-work activities than are not in breach of WHS or anti-discriminatory rules
If you decide not to conduct a formal investigation, you still need to have a conversation with the complainant and discuss your reasons for not investigating.
What will the investigator do?
An external workplace investigator will enter your workplace upon your request and attempt to determine if any wrongdoing has taken place by an employee. An external investigator is better for your business as they are professional investigators and have the benefit of being totally unbiased in appearances and reality.
