Handling Anonymous Complaints – Lessons From Case Law

When it comes to anonymity in workplace investigations, there are various facets. One of our partners, Liliane Gingras, recently wrote a blog about the risks of promising complainants a guarantee of anonymity throughout the investigative process.¹ However, I would like to talk about situations where complaints are made by individuals who are completely unknown to the employer. These cases can raise some seriously difficult challenges for investigators and employers.

There is surprisingly little case law devoted exclusively to investigating anonymous complaints, but the cases we found do contain some interesting insights as to when and how an investigation should be conducted in these circumstances.