Your Mediation Solution
May 16, 2012 Leave a comment
As a follow-up to the previous post on workplace investigations and Best Buy, more information has become available with plenty of “lessons learned” for human resources professionals, employers, attorneys, and more.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/05/15/workplace-relationship/
May 15, 2012 Leave a comment
Best Buy recently received and published highlights from an investigation in to several allegations of misconduct by higher level executives and others. The lessons from this investigation are still to be culled, but the bottom line is that the company responded swiftly to unsavory allegations, a response that has left them in control of fixing the problem(s), responding credibly to employees, customers, and shareholders with lemonade rather than lemons, and demonstrating a commitment to values-based leadership.
Is your company prepared to respond promptly, credibly, and with integrity to allegations of misconduct? Ensure that your Risk Management team is prepared. One Mediation can help through its workplace investigation training modules, professional investigators, and training offerings.
May 14, 2012 Leave a comment
One Mediation provides Human Resources professionals, in-house counsel and risk managers with engaging, active training on conducting an internal, workplace misconduct investigation.
Module I provides a strong foundation on the role of an investigation in resolving concerns, along with specific activities geared towards interviewing witnesses professionally and competently. Module II is a practicum for attendees to work through the components of a workplace investigation, through to a mock deposition, with immediate feedback from Labor & Employment litigators. Registrants may choose to attend only Module I; though completion of Module I is a pre-requisite to registering for Module II. The agendas for Module I and for Module II are available.
Credits through HRCI are available.
May 8, 2012 Leave a comment
Ouch! AT&T recently lost an employment lawsuit that resulted in $5 Million in punitive damages.
In that case, AT&T was accused of failing to provide religious accommodations and retaliating against a Muslim employee. In slapping AT&T with these damages, the court demonstrated in very clear terms that it was not impressed with employment policies that merely pay lip-service to the principles and rules they dictate. At issue here, AT&T had satisfactory policies regarding discrimination, harassment, retaliation and accommodations, but it did not implement them satisfactorily. Specifically, the lack of a meaningful workplace investigation into this employee’s complaints about religious discrimination was inexcusable.
Employers and Human Resources professionals should be mindful of the needs for good policies in their workplaces. However, they should be prepared to implement them with a process or procedure that includes appropriate follow-up on workplace complaints of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation and already have a ready-list of external sources, such as One Mediation, for more substantive workplace investigations and mediations, in order to resolve matters before further damage to morale, compliance, or the bottom-line occurs.
April 13, 2012 Leave a comment
This advanced program, along with the Module II Practicum, is designed to cross train in-house counsel and to enhance the skills of Risk Management and HR professionals for conducting investigations into bullying, discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Agenda: http://onemediation.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/workplace-investigation-training-module-i-agenda2.pdf
March 24, 2012 Leave a comment
Jennifer Keaton, a member of One Mediation’s panel of neutrals, has been invited to speak on negotiation on April 19, 2012 at the State Bar of Georgia. For more information, click here.
March 23, 2012 Leave a comment
A 37 Page Complaint…recently, a major agency received this written complaint from a high ranking official in the organization that blasted an even higher ranking official. Politically motivated? Do-gooder doing the right thing? Someone who’d “had it up to here”?
Too often, employers dismiss internal complaints rather than move them into a credible investigative process because they are too concerned with what may appear (and may actually be) questionable motives in raising the concern rather than focusing on “clearing the air” to determine if a problem exists.
Employers should have an investigative process in place before a need to investigate internal concerns arise. Some employers utilize “hot lines,” while others have “open door policies” and harassment policies with a stated complaint process. These options often suffice, but employers who have been through contentious litigation regarding the workplace usually can point to opportunities that they wished they’d offered to hear about the concern before hearing it from opposing counsel, a governmental agency, or through a court pleading.
Interested in learning about options for your workplace? Contact One Mediation regarding its internal dispute resolution programs, E-Resolved hotline options, and more. Simple solutions at work!
March 18, 2012 Leave a comment
One Mediation’s Workplace Investigation Training is hands-on, experiential learning. The agenda for Module I can be found by clicking here: Workplace Investigation Training Module I Agenda.
March 5, 2012 Leave a comment
February 9, 2012 Leave a comment
KPMG has been ordered to preserve the hard-drives of many perhaps “similarly situated” auditors, not just the hard-drives of the two auditors suing them, in an underpayment of wages case in New York. It may be time to either mediate the e-discovery matter (see list of qualified E-Neutrals) in this two-party case that apparently has class-action exposure!
One Mediation provides a broad scope of
neutral services that include traditional
mediation and arbitration, but also provides
neutrals to preside over grievance hearings and
investigators for non-surveillance
investigations.
