Your Investigation Report Won't Defend Your Sanction

The investigation is complete. The evidence analysis is careful and the findings are well drafted. A senior manager reads the report, sees that sexual harassment was substantiated and signs a dismissal letter the same week.

Two years later, a tribunal accepts the facts and still criticizes the decision.

We have written often about what makes an investigation robust: sound evidence analysis, well-drafted findings and a report that supports decision-making. That work is essential. It is also only half of what a sanction needs to withstand scrutiny. The disciplinary stage has its own standard of proof and demands its own reasoning. When an organization treats it as a signature at the end of the report, it exposes an otherwise solid case to legal challenge.

The investigator's job is to establish facts and report findings.

The disciplinary authority has two decisions to make. The first is whether misconduct is established against the standard of proof that applies at the disciplinary stage. The second, if it is, is which measure is appropriate among those available under the organization's legal and policy framework.