Please note these sample questions do not take into account the unique aspects of any given situation, and will undoubtedly need to be changed or added to for your particular investigation. Please contact your Employee & Labor Relations representative for assistance with question development. You will need to ask follow-up questions based on the employee’s responses to your prepared questions. Thus, you may find it helpful to team with your manager if the situation is complex, and designate one person to be the primary note-taker while the other is the primary questioner.
If a represented employee, at ANY time during the interview, tells you that he/she wants to have a union representative present during questioning, STOP the interview and either give the employee a chance to make arrangements, or identify a specific date/time to restart the interview. See Section 17: Leaves of Absence for more information regarding right to representation.
When starting off an interview, you will want to say:
- I need to ask you some questions about ____________. It’s extremely important that you answer my questions truthfully and completely. Can I get your agreement on that?
- You are expected to keep this discussion confidential, and you are not to speak to coworkers or clients about the subject of this interview. Do you understand what this means?
- Retaliation is taken very seriously, and can lead to termination.
- You are expected to be honest and complete with your answers. Being dishonest in your answers can lead to disciplinary action, in and of itself.
Then proceed with your interview questions.
At the end of the interview, refrain from verbally counseling the employee, unless that is the level of corrective action you believe is warranted for the situation. More often you will want to remind the employee of the admonishments set forth above, and let the employee know you will be getting back to him/her as soon as possible with what is to be done, if anything, as a result of your investigation.