Law firm specialising in employment law
and social security law.
Law firm specialising in employment law
and social security law.
It is not uncommon for employees to send a written complaint (by email or letter) to management, their manager, or the HR department. The content may describe repeated behaviours by a supervisor or colleague, such as psychological or sexual harassment, inappropriate comments, sexist remarks, isolation, humiliation, etc.
Employees don't always report their situation to a member of management! It's actually quite common for employees to report incidents through a third party, such as the Works Council, the occupational physician, the labor inspectorate, or even via a police report or criminal complaint. These situations also constitute reports that must be acknowledged and addressed.
Reports of moral or sexual harassment , discrimination or inappropriate behaviour within an organization require prompt, objective and legally secure handling.
In such situations, the employer must most often conduct an internal investigation to demonstrate that it has taken all necessary measures to protect the health and safety of its employees in accordance with its safety obligation ( Article L.4121-1 of the Labor Code ).
This invesigation must meet your needs and must be:
In a context where employers' legal and social obligations are increasing, the management of reports of moral, sexual or inappropriate behaviour harassment must be based on a rigorous and indisputable framework.
Our firm combines legal expertise and investigative methodology, guaranteeing the implementation of reliable, rapid and effective internal investigations, in accordance with what is expected by the case law of the Court of Cassation, and usable from an HR point of view to then deal with the case vis-à-vis the complainant and the accused.
Engaging Axel Avocats to conduct your internal investigation allows you to:
Drawing on our experience in business and social disputes in particular, we have created a tailor-made internal investigation method, which offer our clients serious and usable deliverables, based on a rigorous methodology but nevertheless adapted to each organization.
At this stage, you send us the report along with contextual information so that we can analyse and define the first steps and actions to be taken, as well as the possible timeline.
After our first contact, we will send you a quote, a possible timetable, and the actions and deliverables envisaged at this stage, in order to frame our intervention.
Once our intervention is validated, a letter of engagement or a fee agreement is signed, and we're off!
Our mission is validated: we then take some time to meet (in person or via video conference) in order to:
Together, we define the projected timeline and the deadline for submitting our deliverables. Throughout the investigation, we monitor progress and provide frequent and rapid updates.
In addition to our discussions, we are sending you a list of the documents you need to provide. They will be thoroughly reviewed and then sorted for possible inclusion in our report.
The objective is to conduct useful and actionable interviews, in order to qualify the situation and allow the employer to have a clear view of the facts and their legal qualification.
All the steps involved in conducting the interviews are designed to optimize this objective, without encroaching on the guiding principles of the survey, namely:
When conditions permit, each interview is documented in a signed report.
The purpose of the facts and evidences analysis phase is to allow us to compile the data and determine the direction of our report.
This essential phase is particularly needed to:
The final stage of our investigative work is the drafting of the report.
Our objective: to formalize our conclusions in order to synthesize the facts and elements that we have identified as decisive in reaching our conclusions.
Our report is comprehensive: it details the reported facts, the actions taken, and the relevant information on which we were able to base our conclusions, as well as the legal classification of the facts.
All HR decisions made by the employer will be based on this report. This report will also be used as evidence in the event of a dispute.
Depending on your preference, we can conduct one or more meetings to explain our report to Management. The purpose of this final exchange is to answer any questions and conclude the assignment.
These 8 key steps are individualized and reworked according to our clients' needs and the specifics of each case.
In conclusion, entrusting your internal investigation to our firm means reducing the risk of litigation, protecting your organization and affirming your commitments to compliance and social responsibility.