How To Conduct An Effective Investigation

Need to correct a toxic workplace culture? Or want to take the pulse of your workforce? Conducting a culture review is a vital first step. Reviews into workplace culture, parliamentary committees and industry or workplace specific examinations such as the Set the Standard Report and the WA Parliament’s inquiry into sexual harassment in the FIFO mining industry […]

Consider a scene often encountered in workplace investigations: two parties involved offering conflicting accounts. No witnesses. No other direct evidence available. The classic ‘one person’s word against another’ scenario. How do you resolve the conflict? Is plausibility a legitimate factor to help choose between competing versions? A recent FWC decision has highlighted the role of

Workplace investigations are underpinned by the general legal principles that are owed by an employer to an employee, the most significant of which is ensuring procedural fairness. One of the elements of procedural fairness is the impartiality of the investigator. This article will discuss challenges faced by organisations and investigators when attempting to conduct an

On 30 November 2021, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) released a new report (the Report) that should serve as a wake-up call for all organisations, and a model for those with the courage to identify and begin to address cultural issues in their workplace. VEOHRC’s Review into Workplace Equality in Ambulance

On 30 November 2021, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins handed down the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) report following its Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (the Report). The Report found that 77% of people in Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (CPWs) had either experienced, witnessed or heard about bullying, sexual harassment and/or actual or attempted sexual

Recent cases in which claims for legal professional privilege (LPP) have been upheld over investigation documents have revealed some useful tips for maintaining a claim of LPP in a workplace investigation. What is LPP? LPP protects a party from being compelled to disclose confidential communications between a lawyer and client (and a third party in

Famously dubbed the ‘defamation capital of the world’1, Australia is renowned for its ubiquitous embrace of defamation law and litigation. Between 2014 and 2018, Australia had twice as many libel claims as the United Kingdom, despite having less than half the UK’s population2. Though rare, workplace investigations are not immune to the risk of defamation

The Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) came into effect in January 2020, bringing with it a swathe of protections for human rights in Queensland’s public sector. The Act aims to protect and promote human rights by requiring public entities to act and make decisions in a way that is compatible with human rights. So what

More and more, employers are embarking on a workplace review instead of a full-blown investigation, when trying to map a course through team conflict or where ‘noise’ of misconduct keeps surfacing. While a workplace investigation will normally focus on a single complaint, a review allows you to gain a broader view of what is going

On 2 September 2021, legislative changes were passed to reflect recommendations made in the Respect@Work National Inquiry Report of March 2020.  These amendments are aimed at strengthening and simplifying the existing legal frameworks protecting workers from sexual harassment and sex discrimination in the workplace.  In this article, we explore some key implications for workplace investigators