Workplace Investigations Basics

March 21, 2012 ♦ 9 am to 4 pm ♦ JAMS ADR ♦ 707 Wilshire Blvd Suite 4600 Los Angeles CA 90017 ♦ Includes Continental Breakfast & Lunch ♦ 5.5 Hours MCLE & HRCI Approved ♦ Featuring Barbara Dalton, Amy Oppenheimer & Keith Rohman

This fast-paced, interactive program is designed to teach all of the practical skills necessary to investigate allegations of employee misconduct.  Among other things, you will learn how to: ask effective questions, interview reluctant witnesses, obtain relevant evidence, assess credibility, and arrive at a legally defensible decision. You will also learn how to prepare and utilize all of the necessary documentation during the investigative process. Each attendee will receive program materials containing valuable checklists, forms, and templates that will assist them in carrying out investigations.

AWI Members Register $180 

Co-Sponsoring Organization Members $255

Non-Members Register $330

Co-Sponsored by California State Bar Labor & Employment Section, Los Angeles County Bar Association Labor & Employment Section, JAMS, and Public Interest Investigations, Inc.

Barbara Dalton is an attorney, licensed private investigator, and Vice President of Public Interest Investigations, Inc. She specializes in conducting neutral, third-party investigations into allegations of employment discrimination. She has supervised and conducted investigations of employee and employer misconduct, wage and hour violations, and wrongful termination claims. Prior to joining PII, Dalton was part of the team of attorneys who monitored Denny's restaurants for customer-based discrimination complaints. Denny's ultimately adopted the investigative model designed and used by Dalton and her colleagues during the monitoring period. Dalton also played an integral part in the creation and direction of an independently administered system of arbitration for Kaiser Permanente members throughout California. She served as an attorney with the HIV and AIDS Legal Services Alliance, where she assisted clients with matters involving discrimination, confidentiality, and health care access, and conducted trainings on those topics.

Amy Oppenheimer has more than 25 years experience working in the field of employment law, emphasizing preventing and responding to workplace harassment and discrimination. As an attorney, she has litigated employment cases. Since 1992 she has acted as a neutral in a variety of capacities, including investigating claims of harassment and discrimination, training workplace investigators, mediation and arbitration. Amy is the author of many articles about harassment, bias and discrimination, including one of the only practical guides to doing investigations: Investigating Workplace Harassment, How to be Fair, Thorough and Legal, published in 2003 by Society of Human Resource Practice (SHRM). She is a trial qualified expert on the issue of employment practices in preventing, responding to and investigating workplace harassment and discrimination.

Keith Rohman is founder and president of Public Interest Investigations, Inc. A licensed private investigator, Mr. Rohman is a recognized expert in the investigations field, including workplace investigations. He serves on the Equity Oversight Panel (EOP) of the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department, which is a civilian oversight panel charged with monitoring Internal Affairs investigations at the Sheriffs Department. Mr. Rohman has also served as the Executive Director of the Office of Discrimination Investigation for the City of Los Angeles. In this role, he directed an investigative team responsible for conducting workplace investigations into hundreds of discrimination and retaliation complaints raised by City of Los Angeles employees. Following this project, Mr. Rohman made recommendations to the Los Angeles City Council, which led to the establishment of a new City agency to address EEO issues. Mr. Rohman is an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School where he teaches Fact Investigation. He has presented at CLE programs on a range of topics, including making credibility assessments, interview techniques, and conducting EEO investigations.