Pharmaceutical Technologist - March 2008 - (Page 16)

Conducting internal investigations employees have engaged in serious misconduct that breaches applicable laws, and, therefore, has no real alternative but to commence an internal investigation. Companies should consider whether they have policies governing the manner in which interviews with witnesses to an internal investigation are managed. Fortunately for employers, from a data privacy perspective, the laws now begin to shift in their favour, as there are exemptions to core data privacy rules designed to protect a company’s legal interests, and facilitate the detection and prosecution of criminal activities. Employee monitoring conducted at this stage of an investigation is more likely to be legitimate. In this scenario, scanning computer hard-drives and searching through emails and other communications will often form an important part of the investigation. Employers will often want to perform this type of search without notifying the suspected wrongdoer in advance. In the UK, data privacy laws state that if notifying the individual puts information at risk of deletion, the duty to notify falls away for the time during which this data remains at risk. Nevertheless, even at this stage of an investigation, any monitoring of information must be proportionate; for example, it is still very unlikely that it will be possible for employers to read an employee’s private emails unless they have strong evidence that the email contains highly probative information relevant to the investigation. Securing assistance In the UK, employees are required to comply with the reasonable and lawful instructions of their employer. As such, if an employee is interviewed as part of an investigation, he/she cannot legitimately refuse to answer questions. However, how does a company ensure that other employees who have knowledge of facts relevant to the investigation or are even implicated come forward? English law does not impose a duty on all employees to disclose their own past misconduct or the misconduct of others. Directors, and possibly other senior employees, have more onerous obligations and should disclose any matters that conflict with their loyalty to the company, and this will extend to the misconduct of others. A sensible, practical step to consider once an investigation has commenced is to send a notice to employees in the implicated group or division instructing them to cooperate with the investigation, and to contact a specified member of the investigation team if they have Stay more alert with PTE weekly Pharmaceutical Technology Europe (PTE) magazine is now publishing a weekly e-Alert providing a variety of editorial from the Pharmaceutical, Specialty Chemical, Biopharmaceutical and Contract Service/Outsourcing industries. E-Alerts will include Industry news Trends/forecasts Regulatory Affairs Key industry movers Financial results/Mergers & Acquisitions Industry events Opinion polls and surveys Recruitment opportunities Corporate news Join the 24,394 users who already receive the e-Alert by subscribing FREE now at www.ptemag.com and click on sign up: weekly e-Alerts now! 16 MARCH 2008 PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGIST http://www.ptemag.com http://www.ptemag.com

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Pharmaceutical Technologist - March 2008 Contents News Morpheus Market Watch E-procurement Means Lean Procurement The Rational Enquirer Simulating for Success Q&A

Pharmaceutical Technologist - March 2008

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