Drawing on our experience of advising on employment disputes, we assist employers with workplace investigations, often in the most confidential and delicate matters.
Using an external solicitor for an investigation can help promote the parties’ confidence in the process, as it provides an external third party with a substantial degree of independence. This is of particular assistance in disputes involve equal pay, bullying and discrimination allegations. It is also of particular use for small to medium sized employers, where there may be a lack of managers with perceived independence to conduct the investigation appropriately.
Our services are also of benefit to employers who require investigations to be conducted entirely confidentially. Such investigations can be kept confidential if the investigation takes place for the purposes of providing legal advice and we, as the solicitors, lead the investigation.
We are adept at:
- framing appropriate terms of reference for the investigation
- identifying and interviewing relevant witnesses, often under intense scrutiny and across a numerous geographical sites
- ensuring allegations are properly and sensitively investigated; and
- concluding the investigation promptly and without delay
We are experienced in conducting investigations for employers who operated in a regulated environment. In such cases we ensure the investigation meets the standards of the regulator.
We ensure that any “learning points” from the investigation are fed back to the business to minimise the risk of the problem repeating itself in future.
For further advice, please contact a member of our Employment Law team. Girlings has offices in Canterbury, Ashford and Herne Bay.