Council CONNECT May 2018 21 Workplace Relations Complaints, disputes and incidents needing employer attention are inevitable in today’s workplace. When they happen, employers need to respond quickly, not only to restore workplace relations but also to simply get on with business. Making decisions in such cases can be complex and challenging. As a result, we have seen employers increasingly turn to workplace investigations in response to employee claims and complaints. Therein lies a potential problem. The routine use of investigations not only discourages alternative approaches but may also reduce opportunities for good business decisions and outcomes. One reason is the language associated with investigations, which encourages an adversarial environment. Applying rules of evidence (like the “Briginshaw standard”) imposes a burden that does not always lead to good or timely decisions. In this bulletin we: 1.  examine whether it is appropriate to always respond to a complaint or claim with an investigation 2.  look at an aspect where decision-making in an investigation is often complicated, unnecessarily. A non-investigative approach Employees could be forgiven for believing they are entitled to have all claims and complaints investigated. JAMES MATTSON AND MARK PAUL Workplace investigations – a critique