Workplace Compliance and #MeToo Investigations: Global Trends and Real-World Insights

• In Event: Corruption, Compliance, and the Politics of Accountability

Abstract

It has been seven years since the Harvey Weinstein scandal sparked the #MeToo movement. Since then, issues of sexual misconduct and other forms of workplace misconduct have come to the forefront in nearly every industry. Companies have a legal and reputational obligation to investigate and punish such misconduct. Multinational corporations, in particular, are faced with a number of practical and legal issues. The paper will discuss real-life cases. It will highlight significant mistakes made by companies with respect to compliance systems as well as them conducting independent and unsupervised #MeToo-Investigations following a report of misconduct. Practice shows that, despite considerable public discussion, companies still need advice and compliance systems need to be optimized in line with applicable laws and the expectations of employees. Possible solutions as well as methodologies for the professional conduct of international #MeToo-Investigations will be discussed.

Authors

• Simone Kämpfer, Freshfields PartG mbB

• Lea Babucke, Freshfields PartG mbB