The social media fallout from the discharge last week of Jonathan Waters, the Director of the Ohio State University Marching Band, has been extensive. The University discharged Waters following issuance of an investigation report that concluded: 1) The Marching Band’s … Continue reading
After acknowledging in recent testimony before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections that “[c]ombating discrimination in the workplace is a worthy goal and one that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce … Continue reading
I was so pleased to be invited to present a three-part webinar series for i-Sight on the topic of procedural fairness in the context of workplace investigations. Now, I’m even more pleased to share with the readers of this blog … Continue reading
The public and very messy firing of the New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson has been likened to a “lightning strike to dry tinder.” As Amanda Bennett (former editor of the Philadelphia Post who was also fired) points out … Continue reading
A decision issued on March 6 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia serves as a stark reminder that internal investigations must be carefully structured and executed to garner the protection of the attorney-client privilege and attorney … Continue reading
Wow. Which debacle should we watch? Choice one: The Los Angeles Clippers and their embattled owner, Donald Sterling, who seems to have been caught on tape making racist comments that are causing the fast exodus of sponsors. The NBA is scheduled … Continue reading
Excited to have been invited by i-Sight to do a free 3-part webinar series on Conducting Internal Investigations That Are Trusted by Employees. The series kicks-off tomorrow at 2 p.m. If you haven’t registered yet, click here to do so. ___________________________ … Continue reading
The most recent study of the nonprofit Ethics Resource Center concluded that an investigation process viewed as procedurally fair “substantially increases the chances that reporting employees will accept the [company’s] outcome.” Earlier this week, I wrote a post about the … Continue reading
The United States Supreme Court’s March 4, 2014 decision in Lawson v. FMR LLC not only expanded the whistle-blower coverage under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2012 (“SOX”), it also stoked fears that a new wave of SOX whistle-blower litigation testing the … Continue reading
Although the attorney-client privilege is firmly established as a legal doctrine that protects confidential communications between lawyers and their clients, a recent federal court decision stands as a stark reminder that its application is not absolute. In United States ex … Continue reading