{"content":[{"text":"Legal Mojo | \n 2. Select an investigator, and make a plan.","bbox":{"left":0.071169,"top":0.050513,"width":0.39954100000000004,"height":0.062595}},{"text":"Second, select an investigator, and make a plan. Possible investigators include lawyers, human \n resource employees, and high-level managers. Optimally, an investigator lends credibility to the \n investigation, communicates diplomatically, and is discreet. The investigator should be ready for the \n unexpected, particularly when interviewing witnesses. It also is helpful for an investigator to be \n knowledgeable about employment laws. A benefit to having a lawyer conduct an investigation is that the \n business may be able to protect some communications from disclosure based on attorney-client privilege \n rules, if done properly.","bbox":{"left":0.071179,"top":0.129654,"width":0.849761,"height":0.11133200000000001}},{"text":"Business leaders and the investigator should make a plan. The plan should (a) identify witnesses \n and include an interview schedule, (b) include a list of common questions to ask all witnesses, (c) identify \n documents that need to be located and secured quickly, (d) establish a process to unearth facts that are \n material, and (e) proceed to reach a fair and reasonable conclusion.","bbox":{"left":0.071179,"top":0.257383,"width":0.849401,"height":0.06344900000000003}},{"text":"3.","bbox":{"left":0.071179,"top":0.337078,"width":0.014933000000000002,"height":0.015573000000000004}},{"text":"Investigate, and make a report.","bbox":{"left":0.129987,"top":0.337078,"width":0.263695,"height":0.015573000000000004}},{"text":"Third,","bbox":{"left":0.130001,"top":0.369198,"width":0.045961,"height":0.015573000000000004}},{"text":"investigate, and make a report.","bbox":{"left":0.185922,"top":0.369198,"width":0.26549899999999993,"height":0.015573000000000004}},{"text":"Conducting","bbox":{"left":0.470762,"top":0.369198,"width":0.09120899999999998,"height":0.015573000000000004}},{"text":"the","bbox":{"left":0.571602,"top":0.369198,"width":0.02518600000000004,"height":0.015573000000000004}},{"text":"investigation may","bbox":{"left":0.606418,"top":0.369198,"width":0.14359299999999997,"height":0.015573000000000004}},{"text":"involve","bbox":{"left":0.759572,"top":0.369198,"width":0.056393999999999944,"height":0.015573000000000004}},{"text":"interviewing","bbox":{"left":0.825956,"top":0.369198,"width":0.09463699999999997,"height":0.015573000000000004}},{"text":"investigation should be conducted legally and discreetly so as to minimize the risk of potential claims of \n defamation, retaliation, invasion of privacy, and malicious prosecution. During the investigation, witnesses \n and others should be given assurances that there will be no retaliation permitted with respect to the \n complaint.","bbox":{"left":0.071179,"top":0.401167,"width":0.84929,"height":0.06345400000000001}},{"text":"The investigator should prepare a private report written or oral that focuses on meeting the goal(s) \n of the investigation identified at the outset. The report may contain purely factual findings, or it can include \n recommendations for certain actions to be taken as well.","bbox":{"left":0.071179,"top":0.481021,"width":0.849302,"height":0.04739299999999996}},{"text":"4.","bbox":{"left":0.071179,"top":0.54481,"width":0.014933000000000002,"height":0.015572999999999948}},{"text":"Act on the results.","bbox":{"left":0.129987,"top":0.54481,"width":0.156903,"height":0.015572999999999948}},{"text":"Fourth, act on the results. Once the report has been delivered, some hard decisions may be required. \n The business should act on the report in a fair and reasonable way to deal with the root cause of the \n complaint, including taking appropriate disciplinary actions. For example, the business may take action \n against an accused employee, or clear the employee of wrongdoing. It also may implement stronger \n workplace controls or rewrite policies. Taking these steps requires balancing important considerations, and \n avoiding the creation of potential claims by one or more affected parties. Fairness in both approach and \n consequence will go a long way toward protecting the business and the employment setting.","bbox":{"left":0.071179,"top":0.576927,"width":0.849665,"height":0.11133399999999993}},{"text":"In conclusion, with these steps in mind, the businesses you help to protect may be better prepared \n to make investigatory decisions in the event of an employment complaint.","bbox":{"left":0.071179,"top":0.704657,"width":0.8497739999999999,"height":0.031636}},{"text":"*Teresa Schiller is a business and employment lawyer at Beard Kultgen in Waco. She can be reached at \n schiller@thetexasfirm.com. \n **This article was originally published in Greater Waco Business and has been updated and reprinted with \n permission.","bbox":{"left":0.071179,"top":0.752531,"width":0.849399,"height":0.06375799999999998}},{"text":"Page | 5","bbox":{"left":0.875094,"top":0.956701,"width":0.08017600000000003,"height":0.01828099999999999}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}