Fact-Finding to Resolve Interpersonal Conflicts

We help clients resolve problems before they grow into complaints. We have been instrumental in clarifying and resolving difficult interpersonal issues and perceived discrimination or harassment.

Employees expect respect and fair treatment at work.  When they believe that respect or fairness is missing from the workplace, they take action.  Sometimes an excellent employee’s performance slips. Sometimes employees refuse to work together or become rude and antagonistic towards each other.  They may use words like “discrimination” and “harassment” as a way to label what they are feeling, or because that is actually what they are experiencing.  Often it is one person’s word against another.  What’s an employer to do?

Whether or not you think the complaint has merit, you must take reasonable steps to find out.  Failing to conduct an adequate internal investigation may result in having to answer a complaint filed with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

These situations are always very fact-specific, and it takes skill and patience to get to the facts.  While we aren’t private investigators, we have an excellent track record for getting to the heart of a complaint and assessing how credible it is.  Along the way we are usually able to uncover organizational, management, or personnel issues that contribute to the problem.  When asked, we are usually able to provide appropriate solutions based on the information we gathered.

During fact-finding, the whole organization is our client.  We are calm, careful, thoughtful, and respectful.  We try to establish ourselves as an impartial third party.  Employees trust us and talk to us.  We respond to their trust by delivering the most thoughtful analysis of the situation that we can.  To the best of our knowledge, none of our fact-finding assignments has ever progressed to a formal agency complaint or a lawsuit.