According to Inspired eLearning, When you’re told that you’re being investigated, your first response might be to meet the accuser and try to reason with them. However, the conversation can take a turn fairly quickly and they might get even more materials to prove that you’re guilty of something that you’re not. If the accuser has a grudge against you, they could especially misinterpret your words and paint you unfavorably.
If you’re being reported for harassment, it’s highly likely that the accuser has their own trove of evidence, whether you’re being accused of a hostile work environment or quid pro quo harassment. Start collecting your own to prove your side of the story and defend yourself. As you gather evidence, write down the encounter in as much detail as you can so you can refer to it and figure out what went wrong.
A written note might also help the investigation as you can compare the evidence each side has and see the discrepancies.
Provide your true alibi and witness accounts
Besides writing down your point of view of the incident, it’s also important that you present an honest alibi and witness accounts that might prove your innocence.
Try to recall the incident. If you were somewhere else when the alleged harassment happened, find evidence of that. This can include materials such as receipts, parking tickets, witnesses, or even pictures that may prove that you were elsewhere.
Additionally, if there are witnesses to the harassment, consult them and ask them to step forward so you can resolve the misunderstanding.
“simply wanting to attack someone they don’t like in the hopes of their termination”
“false accusations have consequences that may follow you for the rest of your career”
3. Discovered that a slanderous complaint(s) against me
led to Reliable Street’s breach of our agreement:
On April 7, in response to a letter informing her I was unexpectedly kicked off the property, Employee #1 told me that she had in fact complained – which came as a complete surprise. I had not seen her since these last texts they sent to me two weeks before I was kicked off the property, and obviously her demeanor and words gave me no indication they fet uncomfortable around me or that my actions were unwelcome:
Here is the letter Employee #1 sent to me to inform me for the first time she felt I had “violated her space and not respected her boundaries”. To this day I have no idea why she felt this way: she never indicated any of this – in fact the opposite. I feel manipulated because she acted like my friend and never hinted she felt upset or off-put by me. I strongly believe she “felt” uncomfortable around me (which she points out in this letter), and conveyed it in a way which made me appear as if I had violated her. She also points out that nothing was ever said to me – by looking at our last interactions how could I have known?
If anyone had told me that something I was doing was bothering anyone else, I absolutely would have adjusted my behavior without issue, but looking back at this I just feel slandered – even perhaps unintentionally slandered.
However, I feel moreso that Lockwood/Reliable handled her complaint unfairly and in a discriminatory manner. The reason I have redacted some of the above names while not redacting others is because I think Employee #1’s actions may have been negligent. She felt a certain way but conveyed it in a way which blamed me instead of recognizing her own feelings. The names I have not redacted throughout this testimony, however, are those who wrote false and malicious comments.