PLANNING & MANAGING EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE INVESTIGATIONS
SYDNEY: 23 SEPTEMBER
MELBOURNE: 25 SEPTEMBER
ADELAIDE: 30 SEPTEMBER
BRISBANE: 2 OCTOBER
PERTH: 8 OCTOBER
WORKSHOP AGENDA:
Registration and welcome coffee: 8.20am
Course duration: 9.00am – 5.00pm, including networking breaks
PLANNING AND PREPARING FOR THE INVESTIGATION
Procedural fairness and the statutory framework
- Procedural fairness, ensuring independence, transparency, and standards of proof
- An overview of the practical implications of key legislation (including for employment laws, privacy, and relevant workplace health and safety legislation)
Preliminary issues to consider
- Factors influencing whether an investigation should be undertaken – assessing seriousness of allegations, complexities of complaints, and consequences of failing to investigate
- Assessing when a formal investigation is appropriate
- Determining other suitable legally acceptable avenues for conflict resolution
- Suspension
- Identifying an investigator – internal or external?
- Legal professional privilege
- Ascertaining the purpose and scope of the investigation
- Timeframes for investigations
THE INVESTIGATION PROCESS
Conducting an effective investigation process
- Planning - the importance of not over complicating investigations
- What should the Terms of Reference cover and who should prepare them?
- Evidence gathering prior to interviews
- Deciding who to interview and in what order
- Designing an effective questions framework
- Setting expectations of people involved
- Complainant and witness anonymity
- Record keeping and confidentiality
- Investigative interview techniques and style – balancing sensitivity with the need to ensure robust investigation
Managing difficult issues in investigations
- Conflicts of interest
- Sick/stress leave
- Requests for anonymity and silence
- Hearsay
- Parallel criminal investigation (Police reporting, the rights to silence and against self-incrimination)
- Information requests
- Managing difficult representatives
- Maintaining independence
Case law review
- When investigations go right, and when they go wrong, and what we can learn from the outcomes
FINALISING THE INVESTIGATION AND NEXT STEPS
- Evaluating the evidence
- Dealing with conflicting evidence
- Tips on how to make well-reasoned findings of fact, assessments of credibility and determining whether factual findings meet relevant definitions such as for bullying, sexual or racial harassment, or discrimination under legislative definitions, policies and/or case law
- What should and shouldn’t a report contain? Is it legally privileged?
- Producing a report that will withstand external scrutiny and challenge
- What information do you need to provide to the respondent, complainant, witnesses?
- Likely outcomes of the investigation process
- Q + A closing session – get the most out of the course and pre-submit questions
This is a highly interactive workshop, which gets rave reviews from past delegates.
A highly practical workbook plus tools and templates will be provided for use back in the office – designed by Q Workplace Solutions, authors of the book Workplace Investigations: Principles and Practice.