Seeking guidance to an HR investigation where procedural fairness was clearly in question.

Anonymous

June 26,2023 at 10:13PM UTC

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Seeking guidance to an HR investigation where procedural fairness was clearly in question. The accused was met with a hostile and scolding investigator from the onset. Secondly, the accused had not been given an equitable opportunity to respond to the claim. Despite three or four attempts to have an opportunity to respond to the claim via e-mail, HR investigator never allowed it and went straight to a final outcome. Does anyone have experience with procedural fairness and taking this to EEOC based on gender discrimination grounds? Would the EEOC review this and is it worth the time and effort?

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AnonymousJune 26,2023 at 11:50PM UTC
An employment lawyer might be willing to give you an idea of whether the law was broken. As to whether it's worth the time and effort, financially, that will depend on the nature of the offense and the amount of money lost. (and the nature of the field in which you hope to find a new job). Emotionally, it probably isn't worth the time and effort.
AnonymousJune 27,2023 at 12:30PM UTC
The way I'm reading this, I'm guessing you might be the accused, and referring to yourself in the third party. Regardless, this is too vague to truly know what is going in order to provide a fair answer. I've been involved in a few investigations leading to terms this year (and in the past) where it has been quite clear that the accused was in the wrong with plenty of evidence gathered and plenty of witnesses.
AnonymousJune 27,2023 at 3:13PM UTC
You can research and if necessary report it to the Department of Labor.
AnonymousJuly 2,2023 at 4:46PM UTC
I believe the EEOC reviews all claims made. If it's worth the time and effort depends on what the accused is looking for in terms of a resolution. The accused may want to consult with an employment lawyer to go over specifics of the situation to better assess what the outcome of an investigation would likely be - there's not enough information to go on here and anything posted here wouldn't be considered actual legal advice anyway.
AnonymousJuly 2,2023 at 5:28PM UTC
The EEOC is mandated to review all claims and if you suspect foul play in this situation definitely bring it in front of them. Good luck.
AnonymousJuly 3,2023 at 2:06PM UTC
Please seek out an employment attorney. HR “Investigations” are not and never will be in the Emoloyees best interest. HR is there for the company and NOT the employee. All they’re doing is looking to
see how much trouble they might be in and find ways to silence the employee. Most employment attorneys will work on contingency and will offer free consultations to determine if the case is something they can work with. They will also file with the EEOC on the clients behalf.
The reason the “accused” did not get a fair investigation is because HR (by design) is not fair. They are NOT there for the employees— their sole existence is for the employer — nothing else.