EEO Investigations

PII has a national reputation for conducting investigations of employment discrimination and sexual harassment.  From allegations occurring in executive suites to complaints from the mail room, PII has probed hundreds of accusations concerning race, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation.

Closely related and often linked, PII has investigated countless allegations of workplace retaliation.  These allegations can expose employers to litigation risk, even when the underlying complaints of discrimination or harassment are unsubstantiated.  Further, retaliation can often be subtle – the accused may present a legitimate, non-retaliatory basis for the actions – and the barriers to finding the truth can be complicated.  In these cases, PII’s comprehensive and analytical approach helps companies get the facts they need.

Companies have sought PII’s assistance when:

• A movie studio executive was accused of sexually harassing numerous employees, including a producer, writers and production assistants, pressing them for sex while on location.
• The general manager of an international engineering firm claimed his transfer was based on his national origin and religion.
• An aide at a nursing home complained of being retaliated against after reporting employment discrimination in a workplace rife with tensions between Latino and African-American staff.
• A janitor alleged that she was sexually assaulted by her manager in the company’s largely vacant warehouse.
• A disabled employee alleged that management was not complying with his accommodations when he was asked to attend an off-site meeting at a venue that did not appear to be ADA-compliant.

Case in Point

An account executive at a mortgage company alleged that he was being discriminated against because of his age when his manager asked repeatedly if he was going to retire.  After extensive interviews of both current and former employees, PII discovered that the manager had used this and other tactics to remove older workers from his work force.

Case in Point

Female employees at a retail sunglass store suspected they were being spied on and filmed while using the employee restroom with a hidden video camera. During the investigation, PII learned that a male manager had been sending some female sales staff sexually explicit text messages for several months.  The same manager was suspected of making the surreptitious video recordings, although these allegations could not be verified.

Based on the evidence that PII uncovered about the text messages, the retailer had enough evidence to fire the manager.