Workplace Investigations
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Unresolved or unaddressed conflict in the workplace breeds a host of untenable working conditions that can cause psychological harm to employees, disruptions to productivity, expensive, lengthy lawsuits, and negative publicity for employers.
At Reed Research, we know how disruptive and costly these conflicts can be. We exceed industry standards for investigator competency. We offer experienced, certified, trauma-informed workplace investigators committed to conducting fair and impartial investigations for your workplace.
This is a critical component of your legal obligations as an employer to maintain a safe, healthy and respectful work environment free from harassment, discrimination and bullying.
We provide prompt, thorough, and confidential results that determine the root causes, make findings of fact, and recommend ways to prevent future incidents so you can resolve conflict and make clear, informed, and legally defensible decisions.
Furthermore, we provide timely workplace assessments tailored to your unique circumstances. These assessments are powerful tools for discovering potential conflict hotspots and concerns in your workspace, empowering you to proactively address them and prevent detrimental incidents.
Lastly, our expertise extends to restoring strained working relationships marred by conflict, ensuring a conducive and productive atmosphere for all stakeholders.
Trauma-informed practice at the most basic level means being aware of the impact of trauma on the brain and body and actively implementing strategies to avoid exacerbating trauma-related problems when conducting interviews.
Investigators need to be trained in trauma-informed interviewing because trauma is common in workplace investigations, especially when it comes to harassment and bullying. Even non-violent traumatic events can violate a person’s sense of helplessness, hopelessness and despair. These feelings can undermine the investigator’s ability to connect with the person they seek information from.
Workplace harassment investigations are not criminal investigations; the investigator’s job is not to interrogate someone into a confession, cross-examine, or make moral judgments. When harassment is found to have occurred, parties often have to work together again later. This will already be a difficult ask without adding the indignities of being treated poorly by an investigator. The guiding principle is “Do no harm.”
Workplace harassment is defined in the OHSA as “engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome” and includes workplace sexual harassment.
The comments or conduct typically happen more than once. They could occur over a relatively short period (for example, during one day) or longer (weeks, months or years). However, there may be a situation where the conduct happens only once, such as an unwelcome sexual solicitation from a manager or employer.
Workplace harassment can include unwelcome and/or repeated words or actions that are known or should be known to be offensive, embarrassing, humiliating or demeaning to a worker or group of workers. It can also include behaviour that intimidates, isolates or even discriminates against a worker or group of workers in the workplace that are unwelcome.
This definition of workplace harassment is broad enough to include harassment prohibited under Ontario’s Human Rights Code and what is often called “psychological harassment” or “personal harassment.”
What is not Workplace Harassment
– Under the OHSA, Workplace harassment does not include a reasonable action taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management and direction of workers or the workplace.
Making a sexual solicitation or advance where the person making it is in a position to confer, grant or deny a benefit or advancement to the worker and the person knows or ought reasonably to know that the solicitation or advance is unwelcome.
This definition of workplace sexual harassment is similar to the prohibitions on sexual harassment and sexual solicitation found in Ontario’s Human Rights Code.
Bullying- as defined in the Canadian Centre of Occupational Health & Safety:
Workplace Bullying: a common form of harassment that includes behaviour such as: Intimidation, malicious rumours, gossip, innuendo, social isolation or coercion, humiliation, persistent insults, slurs and/or derogatory names including cyberbullying and supervisory bullying.
Passive bullying, or silenced bullying, is deliberately psychological. Less direct and less openly noticeable to others, it’s the silent chipping away of a person’s confidence. It is often exclusion or an undermining campaign that may include character assassination, sidelining, withdrawing role responsibilities, and sometimes verbal abuse behind closed doors (no witnesses). The legal definition of bullying falls under harassment and violence
In Canada, under the Canadian Human Rights Act, discrimination is defined as an action or a decision that treats a person or a group unfairly or negatively for reasons such as their race, age, or disability. These reasons, also known as grounds, are protected under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
The Act protects against discriminatory practices based on one or more of the prohibited grounds of discrimination, which include race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics, disability, and conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted or in respect of which a record suspension has been ordered.
Workplace violence is defined in the OHSA as the exercise of physical force by a person against a worker in a workplace that causes or could cause physical injury to the worker.
An attempt to exercise physical force against a worker in a workplace that could cause physical injury to the worker.
A statement or behaviour that it is reasonable for a worker to interpret as a threat to exercise physical force against the worker in a workplace that could cause physical injury to the worker. This definition of workplace violence is broad enough to include acts that would constitute offences under Canada’s Criminal Code.
Employers must investigate workplace harassment complaints under the Occupational Health & Safety Act. (OHSA). Other binding legislation and policies are:
- The Canada Labour Code (federal) Bill C-65
- The Ontario Human Rights Code
- The Canadian Human Rights Act
- Employment Standards Act (Ministry of Labour)(Provincial)
- Occupational Health & Safety (Bill 168) (Requires employers to have policies and programs in place)
- Worker Compensation (WSIB) (claims)
- Bill132 (Sexual Violence & Harassment Action Plan Act)
- Organization Policies
- Collective Agreements
S. 55.3 OHSA, an impartial person is unbiased, with no conflict of interest, and in good standing with their professional body (if applicable). While one may expect that an impartial person may be someone external to the workplace or organization, in some circumstances, it could be someone in the organization.
- An example of a person an employer could engage to conduct a workplace investigation, subject to the circumstances of the case and any criteria set out in the order, could include someone who is:
- from a different branch of the same company;
- from the corporate office; or
- from another related franchise.
Where it would be more appropriate for a third party to investigate, the person could be someone who is:
- a business leader in the community or a business association;
- a certified human resource professional;
- a lawyer; or
- a licensed private investigator.
- It should be noted that if someone conducts workplace investigations as a primary part of their business, they must be properly licensed, usually as a lawyer or a private investigator.
The scope of the workplace assessment is to assess employees’ physical and psychological safety to identify risks contributing to harassment and violence in the workplace.
In addition, the goal is to provide statistics on the current state of awareness that the employees have about their rights and responsibilities and include their subjective experiences. Assessments can be conducted in several ways, such as confidential surveys and focused, confidential interviews, where participants’ information is aggregated to ensure anonymity.
Assessments are mandatory as they relate to risks of violence and compel employers to have policies and programs to address workplace harassment and to set out how incidents or complaints of workplace harassment will be investigated and handled. Employer obligations to conduct assessments fall under the OHSA, CLC/Bill C-65, and Bill 168.
Can involve:
Specific Training is offered to affected employees and focuses on systemic issues. It is not confidential and benefits from feedback and assessment of its impact on the workplace.
Proactive Communication “circles” where all affected parties focus on an area of concern. Unstructured, more conversational, approaches are also useful for group settings, as long as they are monitored and managed to ensure respect and positive outcomes. Restorative circles focus on a single incident or specific relationships. They include directly and indirectly involved parties, are confidential, structured or unstructured, and may require multiple sessions.
Conflict coaching is provided to a directly involved party; it can be restorative, corrective, and helpful in improving behaviour.
Chartering Exercises involve employees experiencing conflict in a work unit providing feedback about the type of workplace they want and then committing to each other to achieve their goals.
Schedule a consultation
We would be pleased to review your case at your convenience, with no charge for the initial consultation.