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Is Workplace Investigation Mandatory

The duty to investigate workplace misconduct has developed from multiple legal sources. This post maps out the legal framework that creates this duty — and explains why employers must treat investigations as a core compliance obligation.

There are many reasons to conduct a workplace investigation. Some, but not all, are based on legal obligations.  These are as follows:

1. An investigation may be mandated by a public statute, such as the Alberta Human Rights Act or the Occupational Health & Safety Act.
2. The employer, by contract, such as a Workplace Safety Manual, may have committed to do so.
3. In common law cases involving termination of employment based on serious allegations of wrongdoing, the law will require that such a termination is preceded by an investigation of the allegations to confirm that the employer is acting in good faith.
4. If any of these situations arise, the failure to investigate may well complicate the employer’s position and lead to incremental damages. This is often the case in allegations of sexual harassment, where the offending behaviour may continue uninterrupted due to the failure to respond and investigate.
5. In human rights cases, the failure to investigate may lead to a poisoned work environment and incremental damage claims.
6. Further, in cases of the obligation to accommodate a physical or emotional disability, the law mandates a proper investigation into the details of the disability.
7. The employer may be governed by a specific statute, which raises the level of procedural protections afforded to an employee undergoing an investigation, as reviewed here.
8. Apart from these legal concerns, it is often simply the right thing to do, to get a firm understanding of what may have gone wrong and to correct the problem.

Each of these will be explored in more detail.

Further, the morale of other employees will be boosted to know that the company takes issues such as workplace harassment, abusive conduct, safety issues seriously and is determined to have a safe and secure workplace.

There can be no doubt that an effective, unbiased investigation can lead to the resolution of many workplace disputes. More significantly, the failure to do so will expose the employer to significant potential damage claims.

See the complete Duty to Investigate resource.

Calgary Workplace Investigations provides impartial and legally sound workplace investigations for employers across Alberta.
Contact us today for a free confidential consultation about your workplace concerns.