Investigations

An ELR investigation is a fact-finding inquiry into alleged misconduct, policy violation, safety incident, or threat — anything where the workspace needs an objective record before deciding on discipline or other corrective action. The Investigation file holds the scope, the witness interview log, the documentary evidence, the findings memo, and the discipline recommendation in a single chain of custody.

TL;DR — Open ELR → Investigations → New investigation. State the scope, list the witnesses, run interviews from the file, attach evidence as you collect it, write a findings memo, recommend discipline (if any). The file is the discoverable record if the matter is ever litigated.

Before you start

• An investigation should have a written scope before it starts. Vague scopes ("look into how Team X works") drift, take too long, and produce weaker findings. Pin it: "Did employee Y violate the Workplace Threats policy on date Z?"
• For union-represented employees, Weingarten rights apply: if the interview could reasonably lead to discipline, the employee is entitled to union representation on request. Don't deny. Deny once and the discipline is vulnerable on review.
• For public-sector workplaces, Garrity warnings may apply to compelled interviews — talk to counsel before compelling testimony.
• Confirm whether the workspace's policy treats certain matters as mandatory referral to outside counsel (executive misconduct, board-level matters, matters involving HR/ELR staff). The workspace's alternate intake path applies in those cases.

Open an investigation

1. 1

   Open ELR → Investigations → New investigation

   The intake form opens.

2. 2

   Write the scope statement

   One paragraph. Who is the subject, what is alleged, against which policy, over what timeframe. Specific is better than broad.

3. 3

   Identify the parties

   Subject(s) of the inquiry, reporter (if known and willing to be named), initial witness list. You'll add witnesses as you go; the initial list is the starting set, not the final.

4. 4

   Run the conflict check

   The form blocks self-assignment when you appear in the parties list — including reporting-chain involvement. Route to a peer or your director if flagged.

5. 5

   Pick the confidentiality posture

   Standard (need-to-know inside ELR) or restricted (named investigators only). Use restricted sparingly; overuse hampers pattern detection across matters.

6. 6

   Set the target completion

   Workspace standard is 30 days for routine inquiries, 60 for complex. Long-overrun investigations attract grievance + EEOC risk; the file flags overruns for you.

Conduct interviews

1. 1

   Open Interviews → "New interview"

   Each interview is one row. Don't combine multiple sessions or multiple witnesses into a single row — the record needs the cadence.

2. 2

   Set the witness's status

   Subject / witness / complainant. Subject interviews trigger Weingarten + Garrity prompts as applicable.

3. 3

   Log the present parties

   Interviewer, witness, witness's representative (if any), notetaker. Anyone present matters for later challenge.

4. 4

   Capture the statement

   Free-text. The platform doesn't transcribe automatically — the record is what you write. Be neutral; quote when possible.

5. 5

   Mark confidentiality

   Default confidential within the investigation. Cross-investigation use requires the originating file owner's permission, logged.

6. 6

   Save

   Each saved interview is immutable thereafter; corrections are additive (a new row) rather than edits.

Collect documentary evidence

Write the findings memo

1. 1

   Open Findings → New memo

   The structured editor opens with the workspace's preferred sections pre-filled.

2. 2

   Scope recap

   Restate the scope verbatim. If the investigation expanded mid-stream, document the scope amendment — never silently widen.

3. 3

   Methodology

   What you did. How many interviews, how many documents reviewed, what timeframe you covered.

4. 4

   Findings of fact

   Numbered findings, each anchored to specific evidence rows. Distinguish fact from opinion. Most challenges to investigation outcomes attack the strength of fact-vs-inference here.

5. 5

   Conclusions

   Whether the alleged conduct occurred + the standard of proof you applied. Workplace investigations use a preponderance-of-evidence standard by default.

6. 6

   Recommended action

   Sustain / non-sustain. If sustain: recommended discipline (verbal counseling / written warning / final written / PIP / suspension / termination) per the workspace's progressive discipline ladder.

7. 7

   Submit for second-eye review

   Findings memos go through a second-investigator or HR Director review before any discipline is issued — the second eye catches process gaps + bias issues.

Common gotchas

• "The subject wants to record the interview." Workspace policy controls. Document the request + outcome. Don't deny union representation as a workaround if the request is from a represented worker — that's a separate (Weingarten) right.
• "A witness changed their statement between sessions." Log both statements as separate interview rows. The fact of inconsistency is itself evidence — don't suppress one.
• "The subject's manager wants to issue discipline before the findings memo is complete." Block it. Discipline issued pre-findings is vulnerable to procedural attack and undermines the investigation's value. The exception is administrative leave during the inquiry — that's not discipline.
• "Counsel is asking for the draft findings memo." Drafts shared with counsel for legal advice may be privileged, but the underlying facts (interviews, documents) are not. Coordinate the privilege posture with counsel before sharing.
• "The investigation is 90 days overdue." Pause. A long-overrun investigation that ends in discipline often gets reversed for delay. Either close it with the findings you have, or document in the file precisely why the delay is justified.

Troubleshooting

How this is recorded

The investigation file holds every interview, every evidence row, every draft + final findings memo, every recommendation. The ledger is append-only. If the investigation results in discipline that becomes a grievance or external charge, this file is the discoverable record. Treat every row like it will be read aloud.