Advanced Internal Investigations Certificate Program

Seminar: ID# 1004013

Agenda

• Review court cases that were painful lessons for employers
  
• Identify key strategies for how to avoid making the same mistakes

• EEOC's Strategic Enforcement Plan and targeted enforcement efforts
  
  
  • The EEOC’s latest investigative strategy
    
  • Latest issues regarding background investigations
    
  • Identify how to avoid discrimination claims when conducting background investigations
  
  
• National Labor Relations Act
  
  
  • Latest issues involving the NLRB
    
  • Social Media, Section 7, and "Concerted Activities"
    
  • Investigations and confidentiality
    
  • Recording in the workplace
    
  • Weingarten rights: investigative interviews and disciplinary meetings

• Review of “Investigation Don’ts”
  
• Assessing the case type: EEO, Theft, Misuse of Assets, Safety, Ethics, Conflict of Interest, and Regulatory Compliance
  
• Establishing roles and responsibilities to minimize political interference
  
• Identifying Resources: Internal vs. External?
  
• Determining when to get legal counsel involved
  
• Identifying when an investigator must recuse him/herself from a case

• Implementing standard protocols and preparation steps
  
• Preparing for interviews: developing interview question templates
  
• Documenting complaint intake
  
• Documenting conversations and witness statements
  
• Maintaining an evidence log and chain of custody
  
• Documenting investigator case notes
  
• Reviewing best practices for case management and evidence storage
  
• Preparing formal investigation reports with evidence exhibits

• Review of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and anti-discrimination laws
  
• Employer obligations regarding when and how to conduct investigations
  
• Harassment: Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Work Environment
  
• Review of other laws that can come into play when conducting internal investigations
  
• Identifying when remedial action steps are necessary
  
• Review of current retaliation cases - and staggering employer costs for punitive damages
  
• Minimizing retaliation claims before, during, and after an investigation

• We Just Received an EEOC Charge for Racial Discrimination…Now What?

• Working with IT in Collecting Digital Evidence
  
  
  • Internet log / Virtual Private Network (VPN)
    
  • Surveillance systems
    
  • Phone records
    
  • Employee access card records
    
  • Electronic messages
    
  • Social media
  
  
• Identifying and Collecting Open Records Evidence
  
  
  • County courthouse records
    
  • Online information services
  
  
• Best Practices in Identifying, Collecting, and Preserving Physical Evidence in the Workplace
  
  
  • Preventing evidence tampering
    
  • Preserving and safeguarding evidence that has been collected
    
  • Handling and disposal of dangerous or illegal drugs and weapons

• The Family & Medical Leave Act
  
  
  • Continuous & Intermittent leave – identifying the “red flags” of abuse
  
  
• Evaluating the trends in FMLA Abuse
  
  
  • The headaches of Intermittent Leave abuse: "Monday-Friday Migraines"
    
  • Episodic conditions and fact patterns
    
  • Identifying suspicious "needing to care for" leaves
  
  
• Strategies for Preventing FMLA Abuse
  
  
  • Conducting case audits
    
  • Implementing process improvement for managing intermittent and continuous leave
    
  • Implementing case management solutions
    
  • Integrity and fraud prevention orientations

• Best Practices for Catching an FMLA Abuser

• Occupational Safety & Health Act
  
  
  • Workplace violence as a "recognized hazard" under General Duty Clause
    
  • Restraining orders to minimize the risk of workplace violence
    
  • Legalization of marijuana and the "Patchwork Quilt" of state laws
    
  • Emerging issues in employee substance abuse and drug testing
    
  • Conducting Substance abuse investigations
  
  
• Workers Compensation Fraud – “Fraudsters in Action”
  
• Strategies for Preventing and Investigating Workers Compensation Fraud

• Investigating Possible Substance Abuse in the Workplace

• Preparation strategies for conducting witness interviews
  
• Examine the Bulls Eye technique for investigative interviewing
  
• Develop interview questions and strategy
  
• Establishing timelines to identify fact patterns
  
• Establish security protocols for investigative interviews

• Using standardized formats that are "court ready"
  
• Timesaving Best Practices: headers, footers, drop-downs, appropriate stamps
  
• Preparing investigation reports for outside parties to understand
  
• Eliminating opinion and bias from the report
  
• Incorporating of electronic evidence into reports without creating challenges
  
• Preserving documents post-investigation for unemployment hearings, arbitration hearings, insurance claims, and litigation