I am often asked, “Are employers really still finding reasons to fire employees in order to avoid taking the steps of conducting an investigation?” The answer is, yes! It’s unfortunate, but it is still happening.  InvestiPro received the following three calls from employees who were looking to file a claim against the company that just terminated them. As you know InvestiPro is an online platform for employer use, but employee calls still come in.

Call #1 – I was just fired after having a problem with my boss. They wouldn’t give me a reason and when I asked to see my personnel file, there was nothing in there. Can you help me?

Call #2 – I need to find someone to help me. I have been in my job for a long time and this new girl told HR that I was doing things that I wasn’t doing. The just called me in and fired me for no reason. I didn’t do nothing.

Call #3 – Can you help me report my employer for firing me? I only worked there for a few weeks and my manager was a jerk. He was always in my face, telling me to get a better attitude.  He even called me stupid. I could tell he was talking about me to other employees. Then I called in sick with a headache and they fired me.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that I am pro-employee, and I completely understand that there are times when termination is warranted. I just know that these situations can often be put to rest, and REDUCE THE POTENTIAL FOR LITIGATION, simply by conducting a prompt and impartial investigation. With over 25 years of employee relations experience, I have seen that positive results can come out of implementing an investigation process as a standard business process used to reduce the chaos and hold every employee accountable at the same level. When employees see that a respectful investigation process will be used every time there is a complaint, two things happen. The first is that employees are much less likely to provide a false claim. And the second is that the investigation becomes a way of doing business, leaving employees feeling respected and valued. This essentially removes the fear and drama out of the process. The company receives a complaint, investigates what happened, takes appropriate action or not depending on the findings, and everyone gets back to work. If you take away only one fact from this blog, make it this:

The EEOC historically dismisses over 50% of harassment and discrimination claims based simply on the employer conducting a prompt and impartial investigation.