We created Method Workplace Investigation Law because we listened to our friends and colleagues in HR, small and medium business owners, our institutional clients across Alberta.
We listened to organizations express an interest and a commitment to maintaining a safe and healthy work environment at their organizations in a time where workplace culture and policy are scrutinized more than ever.
We listened to a clear message from organizations across Alberta that there is growing need for HR professionals, business owners and managers to become competent in internal investigation law, process and best practices.
We listened to organizations express a clear message that modern workplaces in Alberta need access to high-quality, legally-trained, workplace investigative services and advice.
Our Investigative Experience
Investigation into harassment and bullying within the Calgary Police Service.
Sexually suggestive comments made by a teacher to a student over the period of a few months as well as physical intimidation of the student that included the teacher locking the student in a room and approaching them aggressively.
In a post-secondary institution, two students in the same program working on a project together discussed how they would travel from the school to the site where research was being conducted. The male student offered the female student a ride in his car in return for sexual favours.
A C-suite executive confronted a front line employee in a small office, blocking the door so she could not exit, and yelled at and berated her for her performance.
A senior manager at a health care facility was hired and was alleged to have created a toxic work environment by pitting employees against each other, berating them in performance reviews, and making disparaging remarks to employees about their colleagues.
An instructor in an educational institution aggressively physically touched a student. The instructor said it was an integral part of the learning process, the student and many of his classmates viewed it as assault.
In a post-secondary institution, a student was confronted by an instructor after an industry event. The student felt belittled and threatened to kill the instructor.
In a post-secondary institution, an instructor met with a student from a different program and befriended him. In a tour of the campus the instructor led the student into a washroom and sexually touched him
A group of four employees on working tour of a facility became intoxicated and berated a speaker during a presentation.
In the meditation room at a workplace, a female employee was meditating when a male walked in and began to talk to her. He then reached over and kissed her and he began to grope her. At that point she got up and left. She alleged sexual assault
Four students on a study abroad program entered a drinking establishment where they could not afford to pay for drinks. They ran out of the establishment and in an effort to avoid the bouncers chasing them trespassed onto foreign government property.
At a post-secondary institution, a male student began showing up to class intoxicated. He then became infatuated with a female classmate and began emailing and texting her. The communication became increasingly sexual and violent. He pursued her out of class one day and physically attacked her, ripping her clothes. He then fled to the campus pub where he physically threatened other patrons.
An employee at a municipality began to behave differently at work after being passed over for promotion. The person who received the promotion began to receive what he perceived to be threatening emails and communications from the passed over employee. The employee began to make complaints the supervisor was bullying and harassing him. While that investigation was happening, the passed over employee began also to post aggressive and threatening comments about colleagues on his social media account.
A male employee at a health care facility followed a female coworker into the woman’s washroom. He then began to make sexually inappropriate comments to her while working. The male’s behaviour began to become increasingly erratic and violent and his dress and comportment changed and colleagues began to notice that his social media posts began to reflect radical religious fundamentalist beliefs that espoused violence.
At an organization providing legal services, a new staff member complained her supervisor created a toxic work environment by being overly critical of her work, unfairly reviewing her performance, and by holding her to a different standard than he held others. As a result of these actions, the new staff member went on stress leave.
A spa received a complaint that a male masseuse had inappropriately touched a female client and that she did not consent to be massaged in the manner he massaged her.
Two graduate students at a post-secondary institution began dating. The relationship was tumultuous and near the end of the relationship, she alleged that he had non-consensual sex with her. Shortly after the breakup, the male was accused by a second woman in the same educational institution but in a different program of sexually assaulting her.
At a post-secondary educational institution, a student, upset by his mark on an exam, confronted the instructor at the front of the classroom. He prevented the instructor from leaving the classroom and yelled insults and threats.
At an engineering company, two co-workers were speaking in their native language when a third co-worker “Z” who spoke the same language walked by and said “I will kill you both”. The two went to their supervisor who found Z and locked him in a room until he could locate someone in HR to speak to Z. Z used the phone in the room to accuse the supervisor of unlawfully confining him.
A student began to openly discuss how he had become a follower of radical fundamentalist Islamist ideology in class. He came to class wearing combat fatigues and began to talk to the female Islamic students in class about how he was going to marry them all and take them back to his home country. As a result of other information gathered during the investigation, I worked closely with the local police service as well as national law enforcement and security services.
An employee “A” at a manufacturing company complained that another employee “B” had confronted her, yelled at her, and called her a vile name in front of a group of other employees. The investigation found that A had worked in concert with two other employees to pick on and to make B’s work-life so terrible that he would either quit or do something aggressive to be fired. There was a lengthy restorative process at the conclusion of this investigation.
After a particularly difficult loss, the head coach of a Pee Wee hockey team, locked the door of the dressing room and began to yell at each player in the dressing room, going around the room and specifically pointing out the flaws of each player. He also broke two of the players’ hockey sticks. Two players quit the team.
At a hockey practice, the coach of a team of 15-year-old boys was scooping pucks out of the net after a drill. One of the players, knowing the coach was in the net with his back turned, shot a puck with some force between the coach’s legs. The coach turned around after the shot and said “Do that again and I’ll kill you”.
A minor sports organization had a permit to hold a bingo to raise money for its teams. After the bingo, but before the money was disbursed, the organization merged with another sports organization which had no permit to run a bingo. The second organization received the bingo proceeds. At issue was whether the merger breached the rules of the body governing that sport in the province.
A licensed medical professional misdiagnosed a client suffering from diabetes and rather than treating the client’s high blood sugar, she administered a treatment appropriate for someone suffering from low blood sugar.
A licensed medical professional with a history of substance abuse issues found a small amount of cocaine in her backpack in her locker at work. She went to a washroom at the worksite and smoked the cocaine not knowing it was laced with fentanyl. She collapsed and stopped breathing but was rescued by someone administering Naloxone. Among the issues investigated were whether the fentanyl or the cocaine was obtained from a client or from the worksite, whether the medical professional had obtained illegal street drugs from clients of the site and whether the medical professional had a history of illegal drug use at work