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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Help! I have a terrible workplace investigation report on my desk

Unfortunately, for those of us who support employers through workplace investigations, it is almost inevitable that one day, a truly terrible workplace investigation report will land on our desks. These reports may be prepared by people internal to our clients’ workplaces, or they may be prepared by an external investigator. What do I mean by

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What I’ve learned from training

Having spent almost half of this last month training individuals on how to conduct workplace investigations, I’ve been involved in some very interesting discussions with the over 75 people who have attended those sessions.  Here are some of the highlights: 1. Internal investigators are anxious to understand when they should not be the one to

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How not to conduct an investigation…yet another example

The number of decisions dealing with how not to conduct workplace investigations continues to grow. One of these decisions, Ditomene v Boulanger, 2013 QCCQ 842, comes from the Quebec Court and while the case was decided under the Civil Code of Quebec, it provides a laundry list of flaws that should be avoided in a

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Mind your own business!

Recently I was asked to conduct an investigation by an organization that had received a complaint from another organization with which they did business, on behalf of one of its employees. While many of the investigation steps will be the same as in a more traditional internal investigation, the request did raise some important process

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Let’s talk billions: The hidden costs of bullying

Over the years I’ve encountered many organizations where bullying is a pervasive part of the culture. In some cases, I’ve represented victims of this behaviour. In others, I’ve conducted investigations into allegations of bullying. Sometimes this has even come up in training sessions where I’ve been asked to come and speak to employees about respect

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Getting back to work: Restoring relationships post-conflict

Recently I was invited to present a paper at the 2013 Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies (CASHRA) as part of a panel titled A Model for the Future: Restorative Approach. The question the panel was designed to address was, “Can a restorative approach meet the stated purpose of each human rights jurisdiction in

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Porridge on toast and other workplace investigation tales from Saskatchewan

The other week, my partner Chris Thomlinson and I conducted our first workplace investigation training session in Regina, Saskatchewan. We were with a great group of people. To prepare, Chris and I reviewed a number of interesting workplace investigation cases that have been decided in Saskatchewan, but have principles applicable for workplaces and investigators across the

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Reading the Rutgers investigation report

When delivering our workplace investigation training, we often discuss the need to assume a wide readership for the investigation reports that we prepare, and to write accordingly. Few of us, however, should expect a readership that the investigators tasked with looking into allegations against the Rutgers men’s basketball coach knew that they would face. Video

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