Eighty-four percent of employees who report a compliance concern outside their company first reported the concern internally. It was only after the employer failed to address the concern satisfactorily that the employee reported the concern to a third-party outside the … Continue reading
As I’ve written about before, the plaintiff’s bar is growing increasingly sophisticated in its strategic efforts to attack employers’ internal workplace investigations. Unfortunately, too many employers have made themselves vulnerable to these attacks by failing to ensure that their internal … Continue reading
In the first in the two-part post, Washington attorney Amy Stephson discussed the negative impact an investigation can have on a work group. She also addressed the “low hanging fruit,” i.e., the basic post-investigation actions that need to be taken. In … Continue reading
With Valentine’s Day only a week away, I thought I’d repost my discussion of “love contracts.” A “love contract” or in lawyer terms – a Consensual Relationship Agreement — is an effort to mitigate the risk of sexual harassment … Continue reading
Regardless of how well an internal workplace investigation is handled, it is not unusual for the effects of the investigation to linger in the workplace. Rumors abound. Feelings are hurt. Productivity suffers. Amy Stephson is an attorney in Seattle, Washington … Continue reading
A federal jury in Connecticut returned a unanimous verdict awarding a total of $1,499,891.70 to a man terminated by IBM when he was 61 years old. The jury also found that IBM “knew or showed reckless disregard for whether its termination … Continue reading
Readers of this blog know I generally avoid using this space to directly suggest you retain me as an employment attorney, mediator or workplace investigator. With this post, I’m making a bit of an exception as I want to share … Continue reading
Congratulations to employment law attorney Nilesh P. Patel for hosting the December edition of the Employment Law Blog Carnival. Not only has Nilesh compiled some of the best human resource and employment law articles, he has also celebrated the holiday … Continue reading
2013 gave us any number of cringe-worthy workplace situations. Now, Santa has asked for our help as he’s decided to implement the inaugural “Most Naughty in the Workplace” award. To make it easy for us, he’s created a one-question survey … Continue reading
I remember being surprised at the intensity of the objections by some of the EEOC panelists to my suggestion at an EEOC public meeting earlier this year that the EEOC implement a pilot ADR program as a part of its … Continue reading