Silence is not golden - employers should rethink policies that silence employees during internal investigations

Cole Schotz Meisel Forman & Leonard PA

Randi W. Kochman

USA   

September 5 2012

 

In light of a recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) communication, employers should review their internal investigation policies to ensure that they do not completely silence employees. In an August 3, 2012 letter from the EEOC’s field office in Buffalo, New York to an undisclosed employer, the agency warned that the employer’s policy prohibiting employees from discussing an ongoing internal investigation of harassment may violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (“Title VII”). Title VII prohibits illegal workplace harassment, discrimination and retaliation.

 

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