An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 12 - Investigations

involving questions of integrity, honesty, breach of rules, or other standards of performance of job duties. The Act specifically exempts “an attorney at law in performing his or her duties as an attorney at law.” 1948 Under the plain language of the Act, outside individuals, other than attorneys, hired to investigate claims of harassment or misconduct must be licensed private investigators. In fact, several human resources professional associations sponsored and lobbied to pass legislation which would allow human resources consultants to conduct investigations without a private investigator’s license. The legislation failed to pass.

B EGINNING T HE I NVESTIGATION

Section 4

A. P RELIMINARY I SSUES T O C ONSIDER P RIOR T O S TARTING T HE I NVESTIGATION In some circumstances, a school must take interim steps to reduce the risks of continuing harm and to minimize liability before completing an investigation. Specifically, where employees or students allege harassment, discrimination, or retaliation it is good practice to assess whether there is a need to take interim corrective action. A school might create additional liability for failing to take interim action, especially where it would be relatively easy for them to do so. B. P OSSIBLE I NTERIM S TEPS There are a multitude of possible interim actions but whether they are fitting in a particular situation depends highly on the specific situation. There are often smaller interim actions that can be taken as well as more significant actions. Example of some common interim actions are as follows:  Temporary transfer;  Placing the alleged employee wrongdoer on paid administrative leave or having the alleged student wrongdoer stay home;  Temporarily changing office locations;

 For student complaints, moving students to a different classroom, altering class schedules, or putting an aid or co-teacher in the classroom to have a second adult present;  Assigning an interim supervisor or other temporary measure designed to respond to the offending situation;  Having a no contact order.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 441