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Considerations Before You Begin Your Workplace Investigation

• Legal Considerations are a Priority
• Workplace Documentation is Critical
• Employee Privacy and Confidentiality Should be Maintained
• Employee Rights During Investigation
• Employer Policies Need to be Followed Consistently
• Internal HR Policies
• Investigators Should be Properly Prepared

Preparing to Conduct a Workplace Investigation

• Employee Policy Examples
• Workplace Investigation Templates

Conducting a Workplace Investigation

• • Before You Even Begin the Workplace Investigation
  • Plan Your Workplace Investigation
  • Workplace Investigation Questions

• Scheduling Workplace Investigation Interviews
• Digital Forensic Examiner Assistance (E-Discovery)

After the Workplace Investigation is Completed

• Discuss How to Improve Future Workplace Investigations
• Do Not Fail to Correct Issues Discovered

Conclusion

How to Conduct a Workplace Investigation (eBook)

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As an HR Manager, you have a lot of responsibilities, including the unenviable task of conducting workplace investigations, commonly referred to as an HR investigation.

Conducting HR investigations may be undertaken when:

• An employee lodges a complaint.
• Your organization is facing a lawsuit from the EEOC, ICE, an Employment Lawyer, or other government agencies.
• You suspect wrongdoing by an employee and require proof prior to termination for just cause.
• Whistleblowing accusation.

These kinds of situations call for a thorough workplace investigation to take place and must be handled carefully from the beginning to avoid legal consequences later.

Conducting a proper workplace investigation will ensure you can fully understand and manage the situation.  Failing to do so could leave your organization vulnerable to  large legal settlements from lawsuits.

Some investigations may only be fact-finding missions, or undertaken to assess whether an employee complaint should result in disciplinary action.

Internal investigations may also be required in situations where the company is already facing legal action and needs to have all the facts to properly defend themselves in court.

No matter the situation, workplace investigations can be fraught with tension.

You can protect yourself and your organization!

To do so, you must consider:

• Legal Issues
  Will your organization be held liable if you fail to investigate or investigate improperly?
• Employee Rights
  Are you respecting the rights of employees and fostering an appropriate work environment?

Failure to properly investigation a situation places you and your company in a poor light, and can quickly make the situation worse.

As employment lawyer & mediator Stuart Rudner writes within his article, Conduct a Workplace Investigation, “How a workplace incident is handled can have serious repercussions for employers, including liability for extraordinary damages.”

Let us look at some items that must be considered before any investigation begins.

Legal Considerations are a Priority

When conducting a workplace investigation, you must consider that the steps you and the organization take are responsible and within the bounds of the law.

Anyone involved in the investigation needs to be trained in how to act so that they do not risk putting the organization in legal jeopardy.

As Stuart states within his article, Conducting an Investigation, “If the investigation is to be carried out by someone within the organization, it is critical that she be trained in the conduct of an investigation, which would include conducting interviews.”

The investigation itself (or the actions taken resulting from the investigation) could become grounds for a discrimination, harassment, or retaliation claim if it is not handled with proper diligence and care.

Of course, even with a proper investigation your organization could still face a lawsuit.

To help mitigate the risk, however, you can show you did everything you could to comply with the law by:

• Investigating properly
• In a timely manner
• With complete documentation

Remember:

Many employees fall into one or more legally protected classes, so it is not difficult to see how a claim of discrimination or retaliation could arise—even if it is unfounded.

This is why proper documentation is paramount.

It is important not to just properly document the case you suspect could result in problems, but to be consistent in having proper documentation for all your employees.

You can then show in court that you are fair in your treatment of all employees, and that you are consistent in how:

• Employees are treated
• Investigations are conducted

Workplace Documentation is Critical

Keeping detailed and contemporaneous written records is the cornerstone of good documentation.

Workplace investigations rely on good documentation and an investigation by an outside agency such as the EEOC will quickly uncover if your documentation is inadequate.

Lack of Workplace Documentation

As employment lawyer Stuart Rudner points out in his Forensic Notes feature article, Termination for Just Cause, “lack of documentation will almost inevitably weaken your case if your actions are challenged”.

If your workplace investigation results in the decision to terminate / fire an employee, will you be able to terminate for just cause and avoid paying severance to the employee?

Without proper prior documentation, this will be highly unlikely.

Prepare for Potential Lawsuits Before They Happen

Any workplace investigation should be conducted in a way that prepares for the possibility of a lawsuit happening in the future.

If the investigation is conducted properly, with proper documentation, credibility will be on your side.

Documentation will allow your company to prove that:

• They conducted the investigation properly
• Proper procedures were followed
• Your organization investigated or complied with an external investigation as required

Utilizing a Forensic Electronic Document Management System (FEDMS) to organize notes and files can make the process of documentation and document disclosure easier.

Forensic Notes is designed to act like a legal Notebook in electronic form for keeping all your employee documents in one place. It includes advanced security and authentication features, while allowing simplicity in tracking and disclosing notes in a court-ready package if the need arises.

What this means is that you can quickly present employee documents as one easy to read court-verifiable document or electronic package.

However, the benefits of using a FEDMS is much more than simply having a quick and simplified way of presenting documentation.

Perhaps the most important feature, is that it improves the legal credibility of your documentation.

This is because an FEDMS, like Forensic Notes, uses advanced electronic documentation technology to allow you to show not only that a document you created was never altered, but also allows you to PROVE the date and time it was written.

It can also help show that pertinent documents were not destroyed to “hide” a company’s misdeeds.

Document Auditing

If changes are required to a document, a FEDMS can log and tracks all changes, and make available for investigative purposes the original versions of the documents.

When it comes to court, having documentation is vital.

Remember that the organization should have policies in place to preserve documentation when an investigation begins.

This is legally required in most areas.

Whether documentation was created for an internal investigation or regular HR purposes, preservation of these documents is important, as allegations of misconduct may arise months or years after an alleged incident occurred.

Maintaining proper documentation can make or break your case!

Intended Audience May Change

It is also important to create your documentation with an eye to the future, as the intended audience may change.

It may be someone from an external government agency that must read and interpret what is written.

If the documentation is not clear, concise and fact-based, the person reading your documentation may interpret the information differently than what was intended.

An outside organization such as the EEOC may use the interpreted information to determine if the company acted properly which could result in a lawsuit.

Although your organization ‘may’ be able to defend the interpretation, isn’t it better to avoid the hassle and expense by documenting properly to begin with?

Employee Privacy and Confidentiality Should be Maintained

While conducting a workplace investigation, you must balance the need to be thorough with the need to keep the investigation as nonintrusive and respectful of your employees’ privacy as is appropriate for the situation.

Employees have an expectation of privacy, and they will likely assume that any investigation will be limited to only those who need to know.

Request Confidentiality During Discussions

Asking everyone involved to maintain confidentiality also helps to ensure that people can speak freely during your interviews.

Any time confidential information is leaked, the employees will lose trust in the employer and you as the person representing the organization

If trust is lost, other employees may not come forward with complaints in the future or provide key information and evidence that could help protect the organization from lawsuits.

Maintaining confidentiality also helps to reduce the chance that key evidence is destroyed by other employees or inadvertently influence another person’s memories.

Workplace Retaliation

Workplace retaliation can also occur, so keeping the investigation private can reduce the likelihood of threats or retaliation during the process.

It will also help protect witnesses from being intimidated into changing what they will say by co-workers or even managers.

Employees Have a Right to Speak About Workplace Conditions

That said, employers have a very fine line to walk here in regards to confidentiality.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRB) protects an employee’s right to speak about workplace conditions.

As a result, the employer should assess whether the need for confidentiality outweighs employee rights.

In many cases, the need for confidentiality to protect the integrity of the investigation and to protect those who may be intimidated, will be enough to temporarily disallow communications about the issue within the organization.

Know the Risks!

Employers should ask themselves whether there:

• are witnesses who may need to be protected?
• is a risk of evidence being destroyed?
• is a risk of information being fabricated?
• is a risk of anyone trying to create a cover up?

If these above risks are substantial, confidentiality should be maintained.

Document Requests to Keep a Workplace Investigation Private

Where confidentiality is required, advise employees that it is needed for the duration of the investigation and be sure to document these conversations with every employee. Documentation should include their response to the request to keep information confidential.

Workplace Investigations: Employee Rights During Investigation

“Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) in 1935 to protect the rights of employees and employers, to encourage collective bargaining, and to curtail certain private sector labor and management practices, which can harm the general welfare of workers, businesses and the U.S. economy.”
~ National Labor Relations Act

In 2016, the NLRB awarded over $52 Million dollars in back pay, fees, dues and fines due to illegally fired employees for protected activity.

_{Source: NLRB Monetary Remedies}

Employer Policies Need to be Followed Consistently

Even after legal considerations are met, employers must also follow their own internal policies.

Ideally, employers should create a policy outlining how workplace investigations will be conducted. This helps:

• Employees to know what to expect.
• Employers to be consistent in their actions.

It also helps HR staff begin an investigation in a timely manner since the HR investigation process is already outlined with the key steps to follow.

Any policies related to underlying issues that brought about an investigation should also be followed.

For example:

If the issue relates to employee conduct, the employer should follow their own disciplinary policies.

Employers should be consistent in how employees are treated as un-fair treatment can result in future legal issues.

Internal HR Policies

HR teams may also have internal HR policies that are not necessarily made public to the rest of the organization, other than management.

For example:

There should be an HR policy about how to advise an employee that they are suspended.

This type of policy is not something that needs to be publicized, but the HR team needs to be consistent in how its accomplished.

Failing to be consistent with how employees are notified of a suspension could result in an employee claiming that they were unfairly made an example of compared to other employees.

Investigators Should be Properly Prepared

One important question for any workplace investigation is:

Who should lead the workplace investigation?

Workplace Investigation Training Courses

There are a lot of different training courses that can be beneficial for the HR investigator, including:

• Legal Training
• Recognize and Combat Bias Training
• Empathy Training

Be forewarned, legal training courses can be expensive and take up most of your organizations training budget. Legal information can be complex and cover numerous legal aspects and situations.

External Workplace Investigator

If your organization lacks a person with the proper training to conduct an impartial workplace investigation, then it is highly recommended to hire an external workplace investigator or agency.

Outsourcing workplace investigations often happens if the company does not have enough resources in-house to allow one person to devote all their time to an investigation or if the investigation is complex and beyond the capabilities of the person currently designated to be the investigator.

The decision to outsource your investigations may also be wise if there is an insufficient budget to get the training needed for a person to fill this role internally.

Although contracting to an external person or company could lead to higher initial costs if an investigation is required, the quality of the workplace investigation will likely be superior with less chance of issues in future legal proceedings.

This could save you money overall.

If you do choose someone external, be sure to vet him or her thoroughly to ensure they will be a good fit for your work culture and have the necessary experience to deal with your situation.

You need to be sure they are well-qualified, have sound judgment, and can remain impartial.

The external investigator should also know enough about your business or industry to be able to understand any jargon or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) discussions that may arise.

Once an investigation has started, it will be difficult to hire a different lead investigator without duplicating work and greatly increasing the costs of the investigation.

As a result, it is best to have external investigative resources in place prior to needing them for an investigation.

If you are planning to conduct your own workplace, HR or employee investigations, the preparation to conduct an effective investigation starts long before you have an issue to investigate.

The following steps should be taken to help ensure a positive and an effective workplace investigation:

• Create a Workplace Investigation Policy
  A clear policy on how to conduct workplace investigations should be created.
• Training
  Train everyone involved to ensure they understand their legal obligations including the need to avoid bias within the investigation.
• Create Employee Policies
  Have clear employee policies in place to help guide employee behavior. Employees should have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. These polices also serve as guidelines to ensure you are treating employees fairly and consistently.
• Documentation System
  Have a system for creating thorough, legal documentation. Consider using a forensic electronic document management system (FEDMS) to ensure you have documentation that will hold up to the scrutiny of court should your investigation end up in criminal or civil court.

We created the first Forensic Electronic Document Management System.
See how you benefit from it today!

 

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Employee Policy Examples

Examples of important employee policies include:

• Anti-harassment
• Anti-discrimination
• Employee code of conduct
• Employee disciplinary procedures
• Employee communication guidelines
• Workplace security
• Drug/alcohol use
• Safety
• Open door communication
• Whistleblower
• Workplace bullying or violence
• Employee privacy

Workplace Investigation Templates

Below is a list of workplace investigation templates you may want to download and modify to meet your organization’s specific needs when conducting workplace investigations.

Ontario Human Rights Commission

This template is designed for employers or external investigators who are investigating human rights concerns within the workplace.

Human Rights Workplace Investigation Report Template

Confidential HR Investigation Template

Confidential Investigation Report Template

When the need for a workplace investigation arises, there are a lot of questions to ask not only yourself, but all other employees that are involved.

Below is a list of questions that you may have to ask during the various stages of your investigation.

Hint: [bookmark this page or share it to ensure you can find this list in the future]

Before You Even Begin the Workplace Investigation

Before you begin, assess whether there are any immediate steps you need to take to better protect your organization.

For example:

• Do any employees need to be suspended during the investigation process?
  – If yes, do temporary replacements need to be put in place?
  – Alternately, perhaps someone should be transferred to another department or shift rotation?
• Are there any safety concerns that need to be addressed right away?
• Does the IT department need to be involved to terminate (or grant) an employee’s access to any system?
• Does the IT department need to get copies of any reports or information to assist with the next steps you plan to take during the investigation?
• Do you need to consult with legal counsel?

Plan Your Workplace Investigation

Plan all steps of your investigation as thoroughly as possible prior to taking any steps to contact those that are involved.

There are many legal issues that can arise if you fail to properly plan an investigation and instead react abruptly to a situation.

If you have a policy in place (which you should), this is the time to start following the policy to ensure you as the HR representative are protected should your organization question your actions in the future.

CYA – Cover Your Assets

Not only do you want to document that entire investigation to protect the organization, but you also want to document all your actions showing that you are adhering to policy to protect yourself from allegations of wrongdoing.

This is called C.Y.A. (Cover Your Assets).

When planning your investigation, remember the 5 P’s.

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance!

Workplace Investigation Questions

Whether you have a policy to follow or not, you should consider the following workplace investigation questions.

Before You Start the Investigation

What is the problem at hand?

• What has prompted you to start the investigation?
• What are you solving?
  For example:
  – Are you trying to discover the facts in a dispute?
  – Are you trying to see if a company policy was not followed?
  – Are you following up on a complaint?
  – Are you investigating a suspicion or a hunch?
  – Are you trying to comply with an external entity, such as an EEOC, ICE or DOL?
• Has a lawsuit already been filed?

Who should investigate this?

• Who has been trained to properly conduct the investigation?
• Who is impartial in this situation?

Handling the investigation carefully is critical.

Mishandling your workplace investigation can make a bad situation worse and lead to legal issues for both yourself and the organization.

Start the Investigation

These questions can be used to guide the way:

• Who is involved?
• Who should be interviewed?
• Who are the witnesses?
• Who is being accused?
• Are there people outside the company who you need to talk to?- Remember to involve both witnesses and anyone who may have relevant information. Failing to speak with all potential witnesses could be seen as failing to complete a full investigation.Do not forget to attempt to speak with former employees if applicable.

• What risks do you face during the investigation itself?
  – How will you mitigate these risks?
• What documentation will you need to gather and review?
  – How will you get the documentation?
  – Has the organization used a forensic electronic document management system to ensure the files have not been tampered with?If not, what steps will you need to take to ensure you have complete information?
• Examples of documentation you may need:
  – All relevant HR policies.
  – All relevant operating procedures.
  – Employee personnel files.
  – Copies of any previous related complaints.
  – Files kept by managers.
  – Access to employee communications, including emails, texts, phone logs, instant messages, and any other formal or informal form of workplace communication.
  – Employee personnel files and/or other general company files.
  – Access to any system that records relevant information, such as timecard systems (showing who was there on a given day), or log-in systems (showing who accessed specific programs).
  – Expense reports/receipts.
  – Security camera footage.
  – GPS data for company vehicles.

NOTE: Many of the above documents may not be applicable to your situation.

• How will you maintain confidentiality?
  – Assess whether strict confidentiality is required
  — If yes, document conversations about confidentiality with everyone involved
  – Know in advance what steps you will need to take to ensure confidentiality
  – Plan how much information will be communicated and to whom in advance
  – Work with others as needed to ensure that file security is maintained
• How will you handle any information that is leaked during the process?
  – If there is already a lawsuit, you may be dealing with public inquiries in addition to the internal aspects.
• How will you clearly document every aspect of the investigation?
  – You will need to document who is talked to and when.
  – Document what is said.
  – Document what discoveries are made.
  — Ideally, this documentation should be in a format that is easy to use and hard to tamper with, such as a forensic electronic document management system like Forensic Notes.
• Do you have a clear plan for follow up?
  – What actions will you take to prevent the situation from recurring.
  – What support mechanisms can you put in place to support employees negatively affected.
  – Remember, how you and the company follow-up is just as important as the investigation itself.

Scheduling Workplace Investigation Interviews

When scheduling interviews, consider the most logical order to ensure the least amount of disruption to both the organization and those involved.

Consider in advance what questions need to be asked of each person and have that list prepared prior to contacting them for the interview to give them a proper estimate of the time required to complete the interview.

You should also have a clear plan on how you want to contact each person to ensure the privacy of those involved.

Treat every employee with respect and appreciation.

In many cases, you will need their cooperation to gather the information you need.

Digital Forensic Examiner Assistance (E-Discovery)

The majority of workplace investigation will involve electronic data either stored on company computers or electronic devices such as cellphones, laptops and tablets.

As a result, you will likely require outside expertise from a Digital Forensic Examiner to ensure you are able to obtain hidden or deleted information within your corporate environment.

‘Electronic Discovery’ (or E-Discovery) allows you to analyze information only digital forensic experts can obtain.

If you require assistance or recommendations on E-Discovery firms, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

We have numerous connections in the digital forensic field and can recommend high quality organizations and individuals in your area that can assist with your workplace investigations.

Once the workplace investigation has completed, then it is time for HR and the organization to analyze the investigation to see if changes need to be made for future investigations.

You should also discuss what could have been handled more appropriately in the future.

Discuss How to Improve Future Workplace Investigations

Consider:

• Do policies need updating?
• Is further training required for HR?
• How will the company repair employee morale and answer questions regarding the completed investigation?
• What steps does the organization need to take to follow up on issues that were discovered during the investigation?

Do Not Fail to Correct Issues Discovered

Anything you discovered during the workplace investigation will now be a matter of record and needs to be handled appropriately.

Failing to correct issues discovered could result in legal action in the future if the same mistakes are made.

Workplace investigations WILL occur.

Good documentation and good policies will protect your employees and your organization.

Workplace investigations can be frustrating and tense, but having a plan in place can make them less stressful for not only yourself, but the rest of the organization.

Document your workplace investigations with Forensic Notes.

Sign up today for a free 14-Day No Restriction Trial. No payment information is required.

Protect yourself and your organization with Forensic Notes.

Creating and maintaining the entire host of HR-related documents for all employees can be daunting.

After all, you’ve got to maintain files in a way that is:

• Legally compliant
• Easy to access
• Easy to use
• Maintains confidentiality and security

Complicating matters is the fact that:

• Files may be subject to audit
• Need to be accessed separately from the rest of the employee files
• Usually exists in many places

Considering the above, you can see why it is often a thankless job to keep employee documents maintained in an orderly, legal, and efficient manner.

A lot of organizations today have some combination of paper and electronic records for each employee.

For example, at the time of hiring, there may be the application and I-9 form.

The I-9 form is often filled out on paper, but there may also be electronic records for other pertinent hiring details.

There may be any number of different files maintained by the HR staff. This may include documentation of:

• Disciplinary actions
• Tracking of paid and unpaid leave
• Emergency contacts
• Yearly documents for the government
• etc.

And the employee’s manager will often maintain performance reviews and related documentation separately within their own department.

Why Move from Paper to an Electronic Document Management System?

Keeping Human Resource (HR) documents (and much more) organized and compliant is a big task.

As a result, more organizations are making a push for an all-electronic system, as the benefits can be significant.

Moving away from paper-based employee records has many advantages, including…

Reduce Redundancy & Allow Files to be Accessed Instantly from Remote Locations

With a digitized system, files can be accessed from multiple locations on various devices.

This can streamline access issues and ensure that anyone that should have access to the files will have access. Even if they are on the other side of the country.

Compare this to a physical file cabinet which requires the person with the keys to be physically present at a location to get a file out.

Once they get the physical file out of the locked file cabinet, they may need to scan and email the contents of that file to a remote location.

Although this may not seem like a big task, each request can easily take 15 or more minutes to complete:

• Go to secure file cabinet
• Unlock cabinet
• Search for correct document
• Make sure its the latest version
• Scan the document
• Deal with the typical “paper jam” issues that seem to plague scanners and copiers
• Email the document
• Go back to the secure file cabinet
• Properly place back the document in the correct folder
• And finally write down that you accessed and sent this document off to another person

Electronic Documents Management Systems (EDMS) allow immediate access to files no matter the location of the user or electronic file.

As we’ll see in a moment – there’s no need to sacrifice security for the convenience that a EDMS offers.

#1 Priority – Security

Security of files is critical for many reasons. One such reason is to maintain confidentiality.

Example:

Employers may need to store employee medical information which may be relevant for:

• Health insurance
• Wellness programs
• Leave taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

This information should not be distributed to anyone, not even the employee’s manager in most cases.

When there are files that should have limited access, storing them electronically can allow you to have safeguards.

Forensic Audit Logs

These safeguards should result in forensic audit logs which clearly show who had access and when it occurred.

This ensures that the information does not get distributed to anyone who should not have it.

This is a clear benefit over a paper filing system, which could be accessed by anyone who gets into the area where it is stored.

Compliance & Legal Safeguards

Compliance and legal safeguards should be built into the product you’re using.

Compliance concerns can take several forms.

Example:

The organization may need to prove that some forms were created in a timely manner, such as I-9 forms or OSHA accident records. When using an electronic filing system, it’s easy to see the date the item was created and every time it was accessed or modified.

But note that these dates are not foolproof in all systems.

Unless a system is designed to stop and detect attempts to modify data, the validity of your documents can be questioned in legal cases. This could reduce your organization’s credibility if you are unable to prove when a document was created or accessed.

This is possible since it is actually very easy to create or modify electronic documents to show whatever date you want.

But, if you utilize a product like Forensic Notes, you’ll also have the ability to prove that the dates were not altered.

This is a core functionality of Forensic Notes.

This is accomplished through a digital timestamp certificate issued by a third party which can’t be altered.

Being able to prove file creation, access, and modification dates can prove that important files were created in a timely manner and only viewed by authorized employees.

Another legal safeguard relates to keeping files private and confidential as needed.

This is yet another area where an electronic document management system can be beneficial.

You can setup security parameters on specific folders or Forensic Notebooks based on users or groups. This could include passwords or access restrictions.

This means you can keep some parts of an employee file separate from others without having to have two separate physical file cabinets.

Yet another way that a system like Forensic Notes can help with legal compliance is to prove that a document has not been modified after-the-fact.

Example:

If you’re defending a wrongful termination claim, you’ll be able to show that you contemporaneously documented problems as they occurred.

As a result, you’ll be able to:

• Prove that you didn’t simply go back and add documentation after the case was initiated in an attempt to show no wrong-doing
• Show that no files were deleted such as deleting a stellar performance review that contradicts the termination rationale

In court, the credibility of the witness and authenticity of the evidence is key to having evidence admitted and relied upon.

This is only possible if you have a system that ensures that dates cannot be altered or falsified. It is also important to show that documents cannot be deleted without a trace.

These are features of a Forensic Electronic Document Management System (FEDMS). Forensic Notes is the first and only such system.

Why is Forensics Important?

Civil and criminal courts regularly rely on Digital Forensics to determine the guilt or innocence of individuals and organizations.

Printable Employee Documents

Electronic files can always be printed if needed for legal or personnel purposes.

A common fear of transitioning to an all-electronic system for employee files is how to manage situations in which someone needs to review the files but doesn’t have access to the system.

This could be an outside inspector conducting an I-9 audit.

In a case like this, you could either print a physical version of the document and provide to the inspector or an electronic version which can be further safeguarded with the use of passwords.

Save Time During Legal Proceedings

You may be required to provide all information about an employee due to a lawsuit.

In these circumstances, you will likely need to provide all information you have in regards to that employee.

This process is often referred to as Full Disclosure.

Full Disclosure can be a daunting task if you currently using a paper-based system or inefficient electronic system.

Having a FEDMS can save you both time and money.

This is because FEDMS like Forensic Notes can show when, how and by whom a document was created or modified.

This eliminates the need to spend hours and thousands of dollars paying a Digital Forensic Expert to examine the documents to prove their authenticity.

Bear in mind that this is not true of all systems.

A system like Forensic Notes that eliminates the ability to alter time and date stamps or delete information from a file without a trace, means you’ll have documentation that will stand up in legal proceedings.

If you’re defending the organization, you’ll be able to prove:

• No documents were deleted before or during the course of the proceedings
• No documents were created or modified after the fact
• Documents were actually created at the time indicated

You’ll also be able to show that you’ve followed the legal obligation to not destroy any documents after the case was initiated.

Forensics is the key to many civil and criminal cases. Using an FEDMS strengthens your case from the start.

It helps to ensure that your documents will be in a format accepted in the courtroom and able to withstand legal scrutiny.

Re-Organizing & Purge Faster

An electronic document management system (EDMS) allows the greatest flexibility in how you store employee files and documentation.

This results in a customizable and flexible system while keeping security measures in place to ensure confidentiality and privacy.

An electronic system also allows you to purge and move files quickly as required.

Easier & Cheaper Backups

Electronic systems allow backups in case of emergencies or disasters at a much cheaper cost to the organization.

With paper files, an organization typically has one physical copy. In the case of a fire, theft, flood, or other disaster, that one copy could be gone forever.

This risk is easier to mitigate with electronic systems since the entire system can be backed up and replicated in a different region.

This would allow your organization to function as if the natural disaster never occurred in your other office locations.

Forensic Notes is hosted on Microsoft Azure which has the most comprehensive compliance coverage of any cloud provider. All data is geo-replicated in two separate regions of the United States.

To ensure that your data is secure, all data is encrypted both in transit and at rest. Click the following link to view the extreme measures Forensic Notes takes to ensure your data is safe & secure.

Searching & Auditing

An Electronic Document Management System will allow notes and documents to be searched. This saves you a lot of time compared to searching physical paper files.

Save Money on Maintenance

Electronic document management systems cost less to maintain.

While there may be an initial cash outlay to create and set up an online record-keeping system, there are also savings in the form of:

• Less paper
• Less ink
• Less storage space
• Fewer labor costs associated with maintaining the system

With all these benefits, it’s easy to see why most organizations have opted to digitize and streamline their personnel files.

With Forensic Notes, you’ll be able to have all these benefits plus the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you’ll be better protected in legal proceedings.

Always remember that the electronic document management system you put in place is one piece of the bigger picture.

You’ll need to plan for the rest of the implementation and maintenance like you would any other process change.

It starts with ensuring that the organization’s policies and processes will support the system. And that everyone involved has adequate training to make sure the system will be used to its full potential.

A system is only as good as those using it.

If documentation protocols are not followed, an EDMS cannot protect the organization.

But, if proper procedures are followed, you’ll have proof that you’re legally compliant when the time comes.

Are You Ready?

Are you ready to take the next step and move towards a Forensic Electronic Document Management System (FEDMS) like Forensic Notes?

Click here to start your Free 7-Day Trial – No Credit Card or Payment Information Requested

Protect the credibility of your organization with Forensic Notes.