Do you need help navigating an investigation at work?

If you are seeking a workplace investigation lawyer, this law firm helps executives and employees across Australia.

What you will get from this page:

>> About workplace investigations

>> How this law firm can help you

>> When you should get advice

>> Why your decisions matter

About workplace investigations

What is a workplace investigation?

A workplace investigation involves an examination of an allegation or allegations of wrongdoing against an employee. For an employer, a workplace investigation may also serve the following purposes:

  • Enforce workplace standards
  • Comply with legal obligations
  • Minimise legal risks

Understanding the purposes and aims of workplace investigations can help to shape your response and clarify the options available to you.

Steps in workplace investigations

There are essentially six basic steps involved in many workplace investigations, which can assist in providing a procedurally fair process:

  1. Deciding whether to investigate
  2. Planning the investigation
  3. Gathering evidence
  4. Allowing an opportunity to respond
  5. Considering the evidence
  6. Delivering findings and recommendations

Employee rights in investigations

Employees facing workplace investigations often have a number of rights or are owed a number of obligations by their employer, including:

  • Procedural fairness
  • Confidentiality rights
  • Legal or union representation
  • Privilege against self-incrimination
  • Reasonable accommodations
  • Work health and safety rights

Employee responsibilities in investigations

In workplace investigations, employees may have responsibilities as well as rights. They may arise from the duties employees owe employers generally under laws relating to employment contracts, specific laws, or the policies and procedures an employee may be expected to adhere to in a given workplace.

Employees have a general responsibility to comply with reasonable directions from their employer, including conditions imposed as part of a workplace investigation. There are exceptions to these general obligations, which is why it is always necessary to take a tailored approach when responding to an investigation at work.

Responding to workplace investigations

If you need to respond to a workplace investigation, there are six steps that can help you to do so effectively:

  1. Review relevant laws and policies
  2. Gather supporting evidence
  3. Identify what you accept or reject
  4. Consider your rights and options
  5. Get advice from a lawyer
  6. Respond calmly and purposefully

Unfair workplace investigations

It is not uncommon for people to have misgivings about the fairness of a workplace investigation they may be subject to, yet still ‘hope for the best’. While this is an understandable thought, it can backfire. Failing to make a timely objection to something may be taken into account as being the product of disappointment with the process only in the aftermath.

Generally, though not always, the longer a process goes on the harder it is to seek alterations to it. For that reason, anybody who holds concerns about the fairness of an investigation ought to seek advice from an experienced workplace investigation lawyer at the earliest opportunity.

Do you need help navigating an investigation at work?

If you are seeking a workplace investigation lawyer, this law firm helps executives and employees across Australia.

What you will get from this page:

>> About workplace investigations

>> How this law firm can help you

>> When you should get advice

>> Why your decisions matter

Legal Fees

About workplace investigations

What is a workplace investigation?

A workplace investigation involves an examination of an allegation or allegations of wrongdoing against an employee. For an employer, a workplace investigation may also serve the following purposes:

  • Enforce workplace standards
  • Comply with legal obligations
  • Minimise legal risks

Understanding the purposes and aims of workplace investigations can help to shape your response and clarify the options available to you.

Steps in workplace investigations

There are essentially six basic steps involved in many workplace investigations, which can assist in providing a procedurally fair process:

  1. Deciding whether to investigate
  2. Planning the investigation
  3. Gathering evidence
  4. Allowing an opportunity to respond
  5. Considering the evidence
  6. Delivering findings and recommendations

Employee rights in investigations

Employees facing workplace investigations often have a number of rights or are owed a number of obligations by their employer, including:

  • Procedural fairness
  • Confidentiality rights
  • Legal or union representation
  • Privilege against self-incrimination
  • Reasonable accommodations
  • Work health and safety rights

Employee responsibilities in investigations

In workplace investigations, employees may have responsibilities as well as rights. They may arise from the duties employees owe employers generally under laws relating to employment contracts, specific laws, or the policies and procedures an employee may be expected to adhere to in a given workplace.

Employees have a general responsibility to comply with reasonable directions from their employer, including conditions imposed as part of a workplace investigation. There are exceptions to these general obligations, which is why it is always necessary to take a tailored approach when responding to an investigation at work.

Responding to workplace investigations

If you need to respond to a workplace investigation, there are six steps that can help you to do so effectively:

  1. Review relevant laws and policies
  2. Gather supporting evidence
  3. Identify what you accept or reject
  4. Consider your rights and options
  5. Get advice from a lawyer
  6. Respond calmly and purposefully

Unfair workplace investigations

It is not uncommon for people to have misgivings about the fairness of a workplace investigation they may be subject to, yet still ‘hope for the best’. While this is an understandable thought, it can backfire. Failing to make a timely objection to something may be taken into account as being the product of disappointment with the process only in the aftermath.

Generally, though not always, the longer a process goes on the harder it is to seek alterations to it. For that reason, anybody who holds concerns about the fairness of an investigation ought to seek advice from an experienced workplace investigation lawyer at the earliest opportunity.

How this law firm can help you

How can a workplace investigation lawyer help you?

A workplace investigation lawyer can help you in responding effectively to an investigation at work. With respect to workplace investigations, this law firm defends the rights, reputation, and legal interests of its clients by:

  • Providing advice and guidance
  • Drafting investigation responses
  • Negotiating settlement agreements
  • Litigating disputes in courts and tribunals

If you are considering whether or not you should get help in responding to a workplace investigation, it is critical to understand how this firm can help you. A workplace investigation lawyer can assist you in challenging allegations, raising issues about procedural fairness, and sometimes by engaging in ‘without prejudice’ negotiations to quickly resolve the problem with your employer.

Based in Brisbane, Anderson Legal assists executives and employees across Australia in contesting allegations and unfair investigations. This law firm works with people who are often facing allegations that threaten their livelihood, professional reputation, and financial security.

There may be a number of options open when responding to a workplace investigation. However, because the situation may be unfamiliar, involves short timeframes, and is generally highly stressful, people do not always appreciate their options or weigh them in a considered manner. If you think you may need a workplace investigation lawyer, contact Anderson Legal to discuss your options.

When you should get advice

Delays in getting advice can cause problems

It is not uncommon to feel uncertainty, doubt, and stress upon receiving notice that you are under investigation at work. In fact, it is normal, particularly for people who feel the allegation is false or unfair.

It is also not uncommon to see people making mistakes about the scope of the task confronting them. People may view the correctness of their position as self-evident and that they will obviously be cleared of any wrongdoing. This can stop people from reflecting on the reality of their situation.

Some people think they will engage a workplace investigation lawyer ‘if the worst happens’. That is, they see a lawyer as someone who will ‘react’ to a bad outcome, rather than work to ‘prevent’ it. Sometimes, it is only once a show cause letter is issued to them that they can see the problem is worse than first realised. The truth is, it often becomes harder, not easier, to change the outcome the farther things are along the road. For that reason, people facing workplace investigations are always best advised to get legal advice as soon as possible. As it is with medicine, prevention is better than a cure.

Hiring a lawyer to help you can be easier than you think, and the timing can be important. Quite often, the earlier you engage a lawyer to help you, the more options you will have available in responding to a workplace investigation.

Why your decisions matter

Workplace investigations can have significant consequences

People facing an investigation at work are often instructed by their employers to keep the process confidential. It can make the process feel isolating and disempowering.

Isolation and disempowerment can lead people to feel they are simply subject to the process and that the result will be what it will be. This feeling can undermine the opportunity a person has to put their best foot forward.

An experienced lawyer can help you gain a sense of support and authority.

In initiating workplace investigations, it can be surprising how often employers and investigators (even with the benefit of advisers), fail to afford procedural fairness, comply with their own policies, or take into account relevant information. A lawyer experienced in dealing with workplace investigations can help you in challenging such flaws and unfairness.

There are many different approaches a person may take in responding to a workplace investigation. There isn’t generally a “right answer”, given different people will have different priorities. A workplace investigation lawyer can help you not only in understanding ‘why’ a particular response is right for you, but help with ‘how’ to best navigate the situation.

The outcome of a workplace investigation can have real consequences for your job or career. Adverse findings can affect professional reputations. It highlights why it is prudent for people facing issues of this nature to get legal advice.

Anderson Legal provides legal advice to executives and employees facing misconduct claims and workplace investigations. Contact this firm for a confidential discussion about how this firm can assist you.

Can this firm help you?

Anderson Legal seeks to make legal costs predictable, understandable, and transparent to ensure the focus remains on outcomes and results.

This firm negotiates its fees with clients and adopts fixed fees, capped fees, and time-based billing, depending on the work involved.

Why should I call? What happens next?

If you need legal advice or are unsure whether you do, you should call Anderson Legal. It costs you nothing but time to work out if this firm can help you.

When you call, you will be asked a few questions about yourself, your issue, and what you hope to achieve.

If Anderson Legal can assist you with your legal issue, you will get informed about what this firm may be able to do to help you and discuss the legal fees that may be incurred.

Legal Fees