In her co-authored CLM Magazine article “The Critical Question of Credibility,” Partner Yvette Davis and Mike Sandulak, the Health Sciences Principal Investigator at the University of California Office of the President, discussed the importance of unbiased assessments when conducting workplace investigations.
“Investigations where you have a ‘word against word’ or ‘he said/she said’ situation, an investigator cannot simply take the evidence provided and make a decision,” wrote Davis and Sandulak. “Rather, this situation requires a trained investigator to make credibility determinations on the parties and witnesses in order to assess the accuracy of their statements. In such cases, an investigator’s factual findings will rely on these reasoned credibility assessments.”
Davis and Sandulak said that among the numerous techniques that should be used when conducting investigations, individuals must eliminate unconscious biases or assumptions that have been further engrained from an individuals’ past experiences.
“It should be noted that the investigator is not necessarily making a determination on whether a party of witness is lying. Rather, the investigator is determining how credible he or she finds an account, based on the evidence provided,” They added.