You do not believe that you have discriminated against any of your employees or prospective employees. You know well that your company needs to give all workers an equal opportunity, and you do it to the best of your ability.
Even so, your company is the focus of a discrimination claim. Perhaps it comes from a current employee who, despite getting the job, still feels like they’re being treated unfairly. What should you do?
The Steps You Need to Take
This is a delicate and important situation, and you do not want to make any mistakes. To help guide you forward, here are a few key tips regarding your next steps:
- Even if you think that there is no merit to the claims, take them seriously. If they are actually baseless, that will come out in time.
- Do not fire your employee or take any other sort of action that could be construed as negative. You are not legally allowed to fire an employee for filing a complaint, whether it is true or not.
- Document everything you can and gather evidence. If this goes to court, you do not want it to be just your word against the employee’s word.
- Let your HR department handle the investigation. Do not try to influence it in any way. If you do not have a dedicated HR department and you want to make sure it’s clear that your investigation was done fairly, you may need to hire a third-party investigative team.
Overall, your goal should simply be to follow the proper legal steps, avoid any mistakes and ensure that the complaint is fully investigated. It can be frustrating when you know that your company has not done anything wrong, or at least not intentionally, and the reports seem to paint you in a poor light. Just trust that the investigation, if handled properly, will come to the same conclusion.
Navigating Properly
Again, it’s crucial to navigate this situation properly and within the bounds of the law. You must be very sure that you understand what legal steps to take.