Australia: Immigration services for not-for-profit organisations & NGOs

Immigration Services for the Not for Profit & NGOs

Workplace investigation

Hammond Taylor was approached by a not-for-profit organisation to conduct a workplace investigation into allegations of a serious act of misconduct related to a breach of the organisation's Code of Conduct.

Prior to commencing the investigation, we worked with the Human Resources manager to understand the allegations made by the complainant and how the matter had been managed to date. We also obtained relevant internal policies as well as details of the organisational structure and positions of all of the involved parties to understand internal processes and reporting relationships.

Our lead investigator contacted the affected parties by telephone to explain the investigation process, the roles of each of the parties, and to answer any questions the parties may have had.

Interviews were conducted face to face at the client premises to take statements from the complainant, respondents and relevant witnesses. Interviews were conducted in accordance to industry best practice and with an understanding of the legal precedents in the area and related expectations around investigator conduct to ensure all parties were accorded natural justice and fairness.

Following the interviews, additional records including email communications were obtained to provide further evidence of the various claims in the matter.

Based on the evidence provided our investigator prepared a report setting out the available evidence, claims and counter claims and making a determination of what was most likely to have occurred on the balance of probability. Based on these findings a number of recommendations were made in relation to the misconduct of the parties involved.

Recommendations were made based on the organisation's HR policies and Code of Conduct. Additional recommendations were made in relation to ambiguity and uncertainty found in the organisations policies which could lead to confusion or misunderstanding of the same.

Based on the findings and recommendations of the report the HR manager had a solid foundation to sanction the parties in accordance with organisational policy.

Learn more about our corporate services for Workplace Investigations.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.