Canadian Lawyer InHouse

31 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JULY/AUGUST 2019 "If it is on the lower end, can we address the employee's concern and educate the col- league?" she asks. In May, CBS Corp. announced sweeping changes to its human resources operations because of highly publicized past incidents of sexual harassment and misconduct, which also led to the resignation last fall of its chief executive, Les Moonves. Human resources professionals are going to be assigned on set to its television shows and all employees will be able to report any workplace complaints to an independent third-party system that is being created. That is a much broader framework than what is in place in most large North Ameri - can companies, although it follows numer- ous allegations and reports about a culture that has had a very negative impact on the company, especially reputationally. In most cases and for most companies, Cabel says, workplace complaints should be dealt with internally. "It does not always have to be a third party, unless the allegations are egregious. Most of the time, investigations can be done internally and it is a human resources func - tion," she states. At the same time, she says, the process in any internal investigation must be fair to the complainant and the person being com - plained of. "If there are three witnesses, then speak to all of them. Make sure they are being lis- tened to. The challenge, depending on what is being complained of, is that there can be room for interpretation on what is inappro- priate conduct," says Cabel. Workplace investigations "require a buy- in at every level" if they are to be accepted as legitimate within an organization, says Bingham. "This requires procedural fairness" in the process, she adds. As much transparency as possible during the investigation process is also vital, says Samuels. "Keep people informed along the way," she says. Still, she says, there has to be rigour in how this is done. "Manage the expectations and let them know you may not get the outcome you want. The most important thing in any process is consistency. But [the parties] do not get to de - termine the outcome," Samuels says. The highly publicized cases in recent years have definitely "shone a spotlight" on workplace harassment, she says. "There is a greater sensitivity to it now. But that has not sorted out the underlying problems," says Samuels. It is another reminder of the need for an effective process "for dealing with these matters, which are often very sensitive in nature," she says. IH August 18 - 21, 2019 | Quebec City, QC NEXT GENERATION GOVERNANCE Resilience, Agility and Innovation 21 st Annual GPC Conference on Corporate Governance Fairmont Le Château Frontenac | Quebec City, QC Governance Professionals of Canada (GPC) info@gpcanada.org | www.gpcanada.org WWW.GPCANADA.ORG/ANNUALCONFERENCE GET 5% Discount by using your exclusive discount code - 19INHOUSE

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