ASIS: Legislative win for workplace investigations

Dec 19, 2003 12:00 PM

ASIS International achieved what it calls the most significant legislative victory in its 49-year history when President Bush signed into law a bill reauthorizing the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The bill includes a provision that removes workplace misconduct investigations from the notice and disclosure requirements of the FCRA.

The barriers to workplace misconduct investigations were posed by a 1999 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opinion that prohibited employers' use of outside professional investigators in cases of suspected employee misconduct unless the same requirements used in credit investigations were satisfied. This meant that the worker suspected of misconduct had to be notified before any investigation, in effect giving him or her the opportunity to tamper with evidence or influence or threaten witnesses.

In addition, the FTC required that the employer provide a complete copy of the investigation's results to the suspect employee, including the names and comments of witnesses. ASIS Director of Government Affairs Jack Lichtenstein attributes the success of the effort mainly to "the determination and drive of Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Texas)," who "recognized a serious failure in the law and worked tirelessly to build bipartisan support in the Congress to correct it."

"The FTC's 1999 interpretation was problematic because it contradicted numerous other laws that were specifically tailored to apply to the workplace," says Sarah Pierce, manager of employment policy at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

"Because of the changes, employers can now hire outside experts to investigate incidents of workplace misconduct without fear of liability under FCRA," says Josh Ulman, director, labor law policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Clearly, this will facilitate employers in their ongoing efforts to combat workplace violence, harassment, and other threats to workplace safety."

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue