Reflections from Rubin Thomlinson’s complimentary webinar
On March 27, 2025, I attended a one-hour webinar hosted by Rubin Thomlinson titled “Investigating Non-Human Rights Allegations,” led by Janice Rubin and Liliane Gingras.
As a legal and human rights professional, I find immense value in participating in these sessions not only for the purpose of meeting professional development requirements, but also for staying informed on evolving areas of workplace laws and investigation practices as well as to network and learn from others in the legal field.
During the session, Janice and Liliane began with an overview distinguishing human rights from non-human rights allegations. They also discussed practical considerations for conducting these types of investigations, and presented illustrative case scenarios. Liliane also shared personal insights from her experience handling whistleblowing and non-human rights matters.
Key Highlights:
- Non-human rights allegations refer to workplace concerns unrelated to harassment, violence, or discrimination complaint. Rather, they deal with complaints relating employee’s honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, and loyalty. For example, complaint relating to conflicts of interest
- Some complaint may have a mix of human and non-human rights elements, requiring a nuanced investigative approach.
- Procedural fairness is foundational in all investigations, regardless of the type of allegation.Some of the practical Steps to consider before investigating non-human rights allegations includes:
- Conducting an asessment on each complaint recived to determine whether to investigate or not based on different legal, policy and requlatory requirement such as legal or policy obligations, potential breach of the organization’s values or policies etc
- Develop an detailed investigation plan for every complaint
- Ensuring procedural fairness is observed at all stages of the investigation process.
If you are interested in learning more about workplace investigations or would like to explore additional complimentary webinars from Rubin Thomlinson, more details can be found on their website.
Additional resources
If you are interested in deepening their understanding of workplace investigations, here are some additional resources:
Human rights based approach to workplace investigations – Guidance and good practices
Rumour. Gossip. Hearsay. – Rubin Thomlinson
Investigating from an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Perspective
CHIDINMA UMAHI NWANKWO 
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