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7. Offer Employee Assistance: All persons who claim to be the subject of sexual harassment or discrimination should be offered employee assistance counseling, regardless of whether the employee appears in need of counseling and regardless of any initial opinion(s) regarding the veracity of the allegations complained of by the employee. Determine What Conduct Is At Issue: When considering the conduct that has been alleged, it is important to consider what type of conduct is at issue. The following questions may be helpful in determining how to categorize the allegations that are made: a. What conduct or speech is being complained of? b. Does the conduct or speech if true constitute sexual harassment or some other type of misconduct? C. If sexual harassment, is it quid pro quo or hostile work environment? 9. Interview All Potential Witnesses/Gather All Possible Evidence: Although it is impossible to determine all the steps that may be needed in any investigation, the following are guidelines that may be helpful to the investigator: a. Interview any percipient witnesses. b. Interview any other persons whom the accused may have similarly harassed. C. Obtain and evaluate any other evidence that may tend to prove or disprove the allegation, such as work records, telephone records, letters or notes. 10. Interview the Accused Employee: A necessary step in any investigation is the interview of the accused employee. The investigator should: a. Interview the accused employee (keeping in mind that if there are allegations of physical contact or touching, there may be criminal charges involved, so the interview should be conducted accordingly.) b. Interview all witnesses or names of individuals the accused person provides to disprove the allegation, including any reputation witnesses. C. Investigate and gather any additional evidence that the accused employee either raises or that comes to light as a result of the interview. 11. Analysis of Investigation: In analyzing the evidence from the investigation, the investigator should keep in mind that the objective is to determine whether there has been a policy violation. In many cases, there will be no witnesses, so it is necessary to evaluate the credibility of the complaining witness and the accused employee. The following factors may be important in evaluating the final outcome of the investigation: a. Does the complainant have an improper motive to make the complaint? (Has the complainant made similar complaints against other employees? Is the complainant trying to avoid scrutiny or supervision? However, be careful not to turn the investigation into only a background investigation of the complaining a19