Many reasons exist to conduct an internal investigation of an employee complaint of unlawful conduct (or violation of employer’s policy). To name a few:
- Employers may need to comply with a particular law compelling an investigation.
- Employer may need to comply with its own policies stating that an investigation will be conducted under the circumstances identified in the complaint.
- Employer wants to improve the morale of its employees by showing that complaints are taken seriously and are investigated fairly.
- Employer needs to conduct investigations to learn sufficient information to correct a potential problem.
- Employer needs to investigate because action may need to be taken to prevent future occurrences by the alleged wrongdoer and possibly others.
- Employer needs to investigate because the investigation may reveal a problem with training and a need to develop training on the problematic area to prevent future occurrences by employees.
- Employer needs to send a message to all employees that policies and laws will be enforced.
- Conducting investigations will encourage other employees to report wrongdoing and takes away a common claim that the subject sexual harassment was not reported by the victim because the employer has not acted on prior claims by other alleged victims.