Conducting Workplace Investigations: A Step-by-Step Virtual Summit for HR Leaders

Conducting Workplace Investigations Virtual Summit Recording

What should you do if an employee comes to you with a sexual harassment claim? What if someone reported an employee stealing? What's your first course of action? How can you prevent the complaint from escalating into a lawsuit?

Careful. Your choice of words, your body language -- even the timing of your witness interview could leave your organization open to litigation. Learn how to avoid common mistakes when investigating a complaint and how to bring an investigation to a close —- all while remaining legally compliant, by participating in the all-new extended web seminar for HR and employers "Conducting Workplace Investigations: A Step-by-Step Virtual Summit for HR Leaders."

When you participate in this interactive live event, your presenters will guide you through simulated role-playing exercises for best practices when taking an initial compliant and interviewing witnesses. You'll learn a step-by-step approach for conducting investigations that uncovers the facts behind an employee complaint.

Conducting Workplace Investigations addresses your toughest questions:

• What are the common mistakes made when taking an initial complaint?
• Where do I start when developing an internal investigations strategy?
• When and where should witness interviews be conducted?
• What are the dos and don'ts for drafting an iron-clad investigative report?
• How can I avoid legal “red flags” during the post-investigatory phase?
• And much, much more!

Here’s what makes this event unique:

Internet conferencing delivers all the professional learning benefits of a regular conference at a fraction of the cost. For one low price, train as many colleagues as you wish with no travel, lodging, or per diem expenses. Just like an off-site conference, you can pick and choose sessions that apply to you and your staff. And unlike lesser imitators, this virtual summit addresses your toughest workplace investigations challenges, and presents real-world answers to your trickiest questions.

This event is perfect for:

• HR Generalists and Specialists
• HR Managers and Directors
• HR Senior Vice Presidents and Vice Presidents
• Comp and Benefits Directors and Managers
• FMLA Compliance Managers and Administrators
• In-House Counsel
• Chief Financial Officers

Your Virtual Summit Agenda: 
(All times below are Eastern – please adjust for your time zone.)

Session 1: 11:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m. 
How to Handle the Investigation’s Crucial First Step: The Complaint

When an employee complains of discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, theft, inadequate security, or other serious issues, what’s the first step? In this opening session, you’ll learn how to begin the resolution process without exposing your organization to legal risk.

• Words can foster or hinder an employee’s willingness to share information about the allegation
• What to do if the timing’s not right for you to take an employee’s complaint
• Information that you must provide the employee during the initial conversation
• Getting to the heart of an allegation with effective questioning and summarization techniques
• How to address the complainant’s fear of retaliation — and how to prevent it
• Virtual Conference Bonus: Your instructors will conduct a simulated intake of a complaint role-playing exercise, where you’ll learn how to interact with the employee, gather information, and document key details.

Break: 11:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m. 

Session 2: 12:00 p.m.-12:45 p.m. 
How to Develop a Strategy That Keeps Your Investigation On Track

Right after receiving a complaint from an employee, it’s time to devise a strategy for the rest of your investigation. In this session, you’ll learn how to craft a game plan and limit the scope of your investigation , all to protect your organization from potential legal pitfalls.

• Tips for choosing the investigator
• How to use the facts uncovered during the intake choose between informal action or a full-scale investigation
• How to spot the legal issues surrounding a complaint
• The key players within the organization that you must contact immediately after the intake of a complaint
• Documents required for an investigation to move forward
• Creating a list of witness interviews
• How to conduct a thorough, but confidential, investigation

Extended Conference Break: 12:45 p.m.-1:30 p.m. 

Session 3: 1:30 p.m.-2:15 p.m. 
How to Maximize Witness Interviews to Uncover the Facts

You’re not a detective, so taking on the next phase of the investigative process — conducting witness interviews — can be daunting. In this session, you’ll receive best-practice training to help you get the most relevant information from each witness interview. You’ll learn:

• Why location matters: How to select a suitable setting for conducting witness interviews
• Interviewing techniques that uncover the facts behind an allegation
• The confidentiality issues you must communicate to witnesses
• Reiterating non-retaliation and how to recognize the potential for retaliation during a witness interview
• Virtual Conference Bonus: Your instructors will conduct a simulated witness interview role-playing exercise, where you’ll learn effective interviewing techniques and how to avoid common traps that prevent you from uncovering the facts.

Session 4: 2:15 p.m.–2:45 p.m. 
How to Draft an Airtight Investigative Report

As the investigation draws to a close, make sure you know how to draft an executive report that will stand up to legal scrutiny. With this session, we’ll walk through the crucial aspects of your report. You’ll learn:

• How to map out your investigative trail
• Key requirements when summarizing and displaying witness statements
• How to present an effective summary of your investigation’s relevant documents
• The major elements that will allow your investigative report to stand up in court
• How to reach and clearly communicate a decision, and the resulting actions that must be taken

Session 5: 2:45 p.m.-3:15 p.m. 
Achieving Compliance (and Closure) with a Post-Investigative Strategy

Learn how to bring your internal investigation to a smooth and efficient end, staying compliant in your communications to all parties involved, including the complainant, witnesses, and the decision makers who will have to take any disciplinary action. With this session, you’ll learn:

• Strategies for presenting your report to your organization’s decision makers
• How to stay compliant when taking disciplinary action
• What to communicate to the complainant about the investigation’s findings
• How to follow-up with witnesses once the investigation is over

Session 6: 3:15 p.m.-3:45 p.m. 
Q & A Roundtable With Attendees

We’ve saved the best for last. With this concluding session, you and your colleagues control the content as you pose your workplace investigation questions to your virtual summit faculty.

Conducting Workplace Investigations: A Step-by-Step Virtual Summit for HR Leaders

About Your Speakers:

Attorney Buena Vista Lyons, a partner in the Dallas office of Ford & Harrison LLP, is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. She focuses her practice on the defense of employers in labor and employment related matters. She has experience working with clients in a broad range of industries, including those in the cosmetics, airline, hospitality/food services, and healthcare industries. Her litigation experience includes defending employers in state and federal court actions involving race, sex, age, disability, and national origin discrimination claims; sexual harassment, whistleblower/retaliation and wrongful discharge claims; and state law employment-related tort claims and non-disclosure, non-competition, and non-solicitation claims.

Attorney Delaine Smith, a partner in the Memphis office of Ford & Harrison LLP, represents employers in all areas of employment law. She litigates claims of discrimination, harassment and retaliation under federal and state fair employment statutes, as well as state law tort, contract, non-compete, and trade secret claims. She assists clients with alternative dispute resolution programs, mediation and arbitration of such claims, and litigation to enforce arbitration agreements. She also spends a significant amount of time counseling clients on day-to-day employee relations issues, including advising on and conducting investigations, to avoid litigation.