{"id":37054,"date":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/uncategorized\/internal-investigations.html"},"modified":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","slug":"internal-investigations","status":"publish","type":"corporate","link":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/litigation-disputes\/internal-investigations.html","title":{"rendered":"Internal Investigations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It is no secret that employment related lawsuits have increased significantly over the years. As a result, it is critical for employers to adopt proper policies and procedures for investigating employee complaints of discrimination, harassment or other unfairness. The first step of the investigation process should be to consult with outside counsel.<\/p>

An investigation of a complaint by an employee could potentially uncover sensitive information which may be interpreted in a negative fashion if litigation ensues. An employer may be able to protect an internal investigation under the attorney-client privilege. However, in order to obtain this protection, counsel must be involved at the outset of the investigation.<\/p>

A report prepared by a corporation's employees will be protected by the attorney-client privilege only if the dominant purpose for preparing the report is to seek legal advice. A report can be protected if it is prepared in contemplation of litigation, even before an action is filed. An investigation that is protected by the attorney\/client privilege must be treated as confidential.<\/p>

A summary of interviews of employees and third parties also may be entitled to protection under the attorney work product doctrine. If the summary reflects the attorney's impressions, conclusions, opinions or legal theories, it is entitled to absolute protection. However, a summary that does not reflect the attorney's thoughts may be discoverable.<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is no secret that employment related lawsuits have increased significantly over the years. As a result, it is critical for employers to adopt proper policies and procedures for investigating employee complaints of discrimination, harassment or …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":true,"_modified_date":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"corporate_categories":[6522,6524,6520],"class_list":["post-37054","corporate","type-corporate","status-publish","hentry","corporate_categories-litigation-disputes__civil-litigation","corporate_categories-litigation-disputes__civil-litigation__civil-procedure","corporate_categories-litigation-disputes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate\/37054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/corporate"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"corporate_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate_categories?post=37054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}