A complaint has come in and you are not sure it needs a full investigation. The Preliminary Review and Assessment answers that question on the written record, for a fixed fee, without interviewing anyone.
You get a written assessment that sets out what is being alleged, which regulatory frameworks the allegations engage, and whether a full investigation is warranted.
This is for the complaint that is serious enough to need an independent person on it, but not yet clear enough to justify interviews, witnesses and findings. It is often the right first step for an owner-run business or a nonprofit with an HR team of one or two.
It describes a pattern without dates, incidents or witnesses. A narrative cannot be measured against anything. The first job is turning it into a numbered list of allegations the complainant confirms as their own.
WorkSafeBC, your lawyer or the complainant has said the matter needs someone independent. This puts an independent person on the file quickly, without committing you to a full investigation you may not need.
No one inside the organization can handle it without a conflict. When the complaint is about the executive director, it lands on the board. An external assessor gives the complainant the alternate pathway they are entitled to, gives the respondent a fair process, and gives the board cover for its decision.
Whether you go on to investigate or not, you have a written basis for the decision. That matters if the same concern comes back, or if someone later asks why you did what you did.
Each allegation is taken at its highest for the purpose of the assessment. That is an analytical step, not a finding that anything happened, and it gives no advantage to either party.
I request the detailed allegations from the complainant and set them out as a numbered schedule for them to confirm. That list is what the respondent answers and what any investigation examines.
Whether each allegation, if established, could be bullying or harassment under provincial workplace safety law (WorkSafeBC policy in British Columbia, occupational health and safety legislation in Alberta and Ontario), engages human rights or employment standards legislation, or is a performance, management or interpersonal matter.
A factual record of what has happened since the complaint came in: what each party was told and when, and what interim steps were taken.
Whether your bullying and harassment policy, complaint procedure and training meet the employer duties that apply. If there is no policy, the assessment says so.
What is missing from the record, what is disputed, and what could only be resolved by interviewing people.
Whether a full investigation is warranted and, if it is, its recommended scope, structure and sequencing. Where it is not, the other ways the matter could be resolved.
The limits are what make this stage low stakes for everyone involved. They are written into the terms of reference before any work starts.
It makes no findings of fact. I do not decide whether anything happened. Nothing in the assessment is a finding against anyone, in either direction.
No one is formally interviewed. If I speak with the complainant, it is to confirm that I have understood their material correctly. Nothing said is treated as testimony.
It does not recommend discipline. Decisions about discipline or other action stay with the organization.
It is not legal advice. I am not a lawyer. You should get your own legal advice before acting on the assessment.
It does not assess professional competence. Where the material raises a question of clinical, technical or professional practice, I refer it back to you so that it can go to the right body.
Five steps, each in writing, so the process can be shown to have been fair if it is ever reviewed.
A confidential call to understand the complaint and who is involved. I check for conflicts before hearing any detail that would create one.
What the assessment will and will not do, and who instructs me, in writing. Where the respondent is an owner or senior leader, a separate instructing contact is named. Half the fee is due on signing.
I write to the complainant as the independent third party, request the particulars, and set them out as a numbered schedule for them to confirm, correct or narrow.
Your policies, complaint procedure, relevant employment documents and the correspondence about the complaint so far.
Delivered within ten business days of receiving both the confirmed allegations and your documents. The balance of the fee is invoiced on delivery. On request, I walk leadership or the board through it.
Both parties are told. The organization confirms in writing to the complainant and the respondent that the process is underway and that there will be no reprisal for taking part. I check that it has been done.
$2,950 fixed fee, plus GST, for one complaint against one respondent, from the scoping call to the written assessment. Half is due on signing and half on delivery.
If the material turns out to be much larger than a single complaint usually produces, I raise it in writing before doing the extra work, and you decide whether to go ahead. Matters with more than one complainant or respondent are quoted in writing before you sign.
If a full investigation is recommended, it is a separate engagement with its own terms of reference, billed at $325 per hour against a written estimate. The allegation schedule and document review carry forward, so none of that work is repeated or billed twice. Whether to proceed is your decision.
Available to organizations in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, and the other provinces outside Quebec. Each allegation is assessed against the regulatory frameworks in your province.
No. It is the step before one. It assesses the complaint on the written record and recommends whether a full investigation is warranted. No one is formally interviewed and no findings of fact are made.
The written assessment is delivered within ten business days of receiving both the confirmed allegations and the documents requested from the organization. The time before that depends mostly on how quickly the complainant provides the detailed allegations.
A fixed fee of $2,950 plus GST for one complaint against one respondent. Half is due on signing and half on delivery of the written assessment. Matters with more than one complainant or respondent are quoted in writing before you sign.
Whether to proceed is the organization's decision. A full investigation is a separate engagement with its own terms of reference, billed at $325 per hour against a written estimate. The allegation schedule and document review carry forward, so that work is not repeated or billed twice.
The organization's instructing contact, or counsel if counsel retains me directly. The confirmed allegation schedule is shared with the respondent so that they can respond to it.
A short, confidential call will tell you whether a preliminary review, a full investigation or something lighter fits. Reaching out does not create a record or an obligation.