Complainant Interview Content

During the interview with the complainant, be sure to do the following:

• Thank them for notifying the company of this behavior.
• Encourage the employee to speak freely.
• Restate the company's sexual harassment policies and the procedures for resolving complaints.
• Ask for detailed facts, witnesses, documents, or any other evidence that support the complaint.
• Assure the complainant that retaliation is not allowed under any circumstances.
• Inform the employee that the complaint will be kept as confidential as possible, but that you cannot promise complete confidentiality because you may have to interview others regarding this complaint.
• Tell the complainant that you will only disclose information regarding the complaint and investigation to others on a need-to-know basis.
• Ask the complainant not to take any actions that could interfere with the investigation.
• Inform the employee that there are rules prohibiting employee discussions of ongoing investigations.
• Ask the complainant if he or she has suggestions for the most appropriate way to resolve the matter.
• State that you may or may not follow these suggestions but will seriously consider them.

It is best to have a standard way to end the interview. It should include the following:

• Ask if you have allowed him or her to discuss every allegation of harassment.
• Ask the complainant if there is anyone else you need to speak with in order to corroborate the allegations.
• Ask if the complainant has any questions.
• Let the complainant know that he or she can reach out to you at any time with other information or new information.
• Ask the complainant to include any information that he or she may have forgotten to mention or of any new information.
• Explain what the next steps will be. Speak broadly: say that you will be interviewing others before making a decision on the next actions to take.
• Tell the complainant to notify you immediately if they experience any retaliation. Make it clear that the company has a zero-tolerance policy for this behavior.
• Follow up with the complainant to make sure retaliation is not occurring.
• Immediately after the meeting, write up your own notes and observations.

Ideally, you would be able to prepare a complainant statement during the interview. In most cases, this is not possible. Therefore, let the complainant know you will be writing a statement, that he or she can review. You can revise it based on his or her feedback and then, when they agree with the content, the complainant can sign the statement.

To learn more about Sexual Harassment Prevention Training For Supervisors visit our Cal/OSHA Sexual Harassment Prevention Training For Supervisors Online Training web page.