Should a Workplace Investigator Also Make the Decision?
Separate investigators and decision-makers can reduce bias, but whether separation is legally required depends on the governing process.
A workplace investigator does not always have to be legally separate from the person who makes the final decision. The safer answer is more contextual: separating fact-finding from decision-making can reduce confirmation bias and make a process easier to defend, while the actual legal requirement depends on the employment relationship, collective agreement, policy, statute and nature of the institution. For universities and colleges, those sources can overlap in ways that make role design especially important. Before deciding who should investigate, identify what process actually governs the complaint.
Opening this article…