Guidelines for Interviewing the Complainant

By this point, you have read the complaint and are familiar with the general information regarding the incident. The purpose of an initial interview with the complainant is to collect information and get the facts regarding the incident or incidents.

Here are some tips for this interview:

• Be unbiased.
• Develop a rapport with the complainant. Show them that you can be trusted and are here to gather facts, not to judge.
• Select a private and comfortable place for the interview. (For example, if you have an office that is not closed, or is visible to other employees, do not have the meeting here.)
• Plan for plenty of time. Do not feel rushed or make the complainant feel as if he or she has a window in which to express the facts.
• Remember that this could be a very emotional process for the complainant. Give him or her time to answer questions, and if they can't recall, revisit the question later.

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