Reply To: Anonymous complaints – how to investigate
An employer cannot guarantee that staff will not be identified when they come forward with a complaint. It should be presumed that they will be identified, and that they will stand by what they have alleged happened.
In order to conduct a thorough and fair investigation, the respondent has a right to fully understand the complaints made against them. And if the employer has to defend its decision flowing from the investigation in front of an adjudicator, the “best” evidence is often needed by the adjudicator to support a well reasoned judgement. This would include a complainant’s evidence of direct knowledge of events. So confidentiality cannot be guaranteed or expected.
In some circumstances, where there are multiple witnesses or other persuasive evidence available, an employer may not need to rely on the evidence of specific individuals who wish to remain anonymous, however, conclusions about what evidence can be relied on by the employer to justify its decisions, often will not be known until the investigation is concluded and the facts are established.