Legal Question in Employment Law in Colorado

Urgent HR help needed

I am an executive with a large fortune 1000 company who was hired by and reported to a former associate. This associate was terminated last week because his views clashed with his superior. I am now labeled as being associated with this former executive and was told that complaints have been made against me re: my management style. This week an associate who reports to me was pulled aside into a room and questioned by a director, who is not from HR, and asked specifically ''if she felt comfortable enough to tell her if she ever felt that I had ever acted inappropriately'' This Director went on to question her regarding a dinner that the 2 of us had, a business dinner, where the total bill was $100. She said that someone from the field org came forward and thought it was interesting that the 2 of us had a dinner that he felt was excessive. Is it legal for a non HR manager to ask direct questions like this and the fact that she had specific private information regarding the dollar amount of the dinner bill, etc. cause alarm to me. It's obviously created a hostile workplace for me with the behind the scenes questioning that's going on. Information appreciated


Asked on 1/30/08, 3:50 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bob McCormack Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLC

Re: Urgent HR help needed

Generally, an employer can ask any questions it wants in the course of an investigation. Additionally, it has a duty to investigate matters which potenially could relate to claims of harassment or discrimination (of which harassment is a form).

It may have been inappropriate for the investigator to disclose certain facts, but that is not usually actionable unless those "facts" give rise to a separate cause of action. The best example would be slander. However, an employer generally has qualified immunity to disclose certain facts to certain employees.

As far as a "hostile workplace" goes, this also has to be based upon some illegal motivation. In other words, a hostile environment is not actionable until it is based upon some illegal motivation, i.e. gender discrimination gives rise to a hostile work environment of sexual harassment. Similar hostile environment analyses have been applied for race and age discrimination.

Remember, this response is based upon limited information. If you seek a more detailed response, there are many questions that need to be asked before a complete answer is made. You should seek legal counsel for this purpose.

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Answered on 2/01/08, 7:12 am


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