Investigating incidents that may constitute a form of harassment

In Swedish

Content:

• Determine responsibility
• Provide support to all those affected
• Investigative conversation
• Continued investigation
• Reporting and record keeping
• Document the work process
• When the investigation is complete
• Act immediately
• Follow up

Determine responsibility

The manager closest to those involved is normally responsible for the process.

• If you are a close friend, relative or have a clear conflict with one of the people involved, hand the matter over to your manager.
• If people from different parts of the organisation are involved, collaborate with the other manager and divide up the responsibilities. You are always responsible for your own employees and their support.

Provide support to all those affected

Both the person who feels victimised and the person who is singled out should be offered counselling (e.g. occupational health services or contracted support).

• Repeat the offer several times during the process and even after the investigation – the need often increases over time.
• As a manager, you may also need support. Seek help if necessary.

Investigative conversation

Talk to the person who feels victimised and the person who is singled out.

• Find out: What happened? When? Who is involved?
• Seek help from HR partners and SFAD coordinators to assess whether further investigation is needed.

Continued investigation

If the conversations show that an investigation is needed:

Investigation

• Usually sufficient for less serious incidents.
• As a manager, you conduct the conversations and document them.
• If more information is needed, initiate a simple investigation. Choose the investigator with care.

In-depth investigation

• For complex or sensitive cases.
• Contact your HR partner and SFAD coordinator for support.
• The investigator must be competent, impartial and trusted by the parties involved.
• The investigator registers the case in w3d3.

External investigator

• Recommended for highly complex cases or if a senior manager is involved.
• Contact the HR department via the HR partner/SFAD coordinator.
• The cost is covered by your organisation.

Read more about how to conduct an investigation or an in-depth investigation

Reporting and record keeping

Always start with an investigative conversation – regardless of how you obtain the information.

Report the incident in the IA system (as an Incident or Risk Observation, select Cause of Injury: Harassment/Discrimination). Do not enter any names.

If an investigation is conducted: register the documentation and report in w3d3 and refer to the reference number in the IA system.

Document the work process

Make objective notes: What happened? When did you find out? Who was involved? What measures have you taken?

• Save your notes and documentation in an organised and secure manner in w3d3.

When the investigation is complete

Consider the conclusions, especially if it concerns harassment under the Discrimination Act.

• Report the measures you are taking in the IA system and state the reference number.
• Seek support from HR partners and SFAD coordinators.

Act immediately

Stop the behaviour immediately – do not wait for the final report.

• After the investigation: conduct a risk assessment and implement long-term measures (e.g. discussions, clearer procedures, work environment initiatives).
• If necessary: take labour law measures with the support of HR.

Follow up

Check that the behaviour has ceased.

• If the measures are not sufficient, conduct a new analysis and take further action.

In Swedish

If a situation is extreme, for example involving threats or violence, you should:

• Immediately contact the Safety and Environment Department for support.
• Document the incident thoroughly and in a structured manner.

For contact details for the Safety and Environment Department: 

• Hate, threats and violence | Staff pages

In some cases, the matter may need to be referred to:

• The Staff Disciplinary Board, PAN (Staff Pages)
• Government Disciplinary Board for Higher Officials, SAN (Staff pages)

An investigation may be necessary after you have spoken with the person who feels victimised and the person who has been accused. An investigation is used when:

• The incident is isolated, not serious and not complex.
• You yourself or someone close to you is not involved.

The purpose of an investigation is to find out what has happened and what needs to be done to stop it and prevent it from happening again.

Advice: Always seek support from your HR partner to assess whether an investigation is the right course of action.

Keep in mind:

• You should not conduct a criminal investigation – that is the responsibility of the police.
• Be open and avoid judging anyone in advance.
• Consider the time perspective:
  • It is difficult to investigate something that happened a long time ago, but gather what you can.
  • Events from the distant past rarely require an in-depth investigation, but the information can provide insight into the current situation.
  • Focus on what has happened recently and what you can do now.

1 Ensure impartiality

You must not have any personal ties (family, relationship, close friendship or enmity) to anyone involved. If you are not impartial, hand the matter over to your manager.

2 Inform those involved about:

• Employees have the right to bring a trade union representative or support person (who is not involved).
• Employees have access to occupational health services or contracted providers.
• Students may bring a student union representative or student ombudsman.
• Students can receive support from student health services.

3 Transparency:

Everything that is said is documented and is not anonymous.

The report is registered and is a public document.

1 Talk to the person who feels victimised

• What happened? When? What was said or done?
• Take notes, let the person read them and add to them.

2 Talk to the person who has been accused

• Tell them what you have learned and ask how they perceive the incident.
• Take notes, let the person read them and add to them.

3 Gather evidence

• Ask for emails/screenshots that support the information.
• Talk to any witnesses.

4 Assessment

• Check with your HR partner to see if you have enough evidence or if a full investigation is needed.

5 Report

• Write a summary: who you talked to, what evidence you had, and your conclusions.
• Register in w3d3.

6 Feedback

• Tell both parties what you have concluded.

7 Measures

• Analyse the causes and implement measures for the work environment.
• In the event of conflict: consider tripartite discussions with support from HR or contracted suppliers.

8 Document in the IA system

• Specify work environment measures. For individual measures, simply write ‘individual measures’. .

9 If it is harassment or sexual harassment

• As a manager, you must establish this and note it in the IA system.

If the case becomes more complex

If the case becomes more complex, interrupt the investigation and contact your HR partner or the SFAD coordinator at the faculty. You can also jointly contact the HR section for further support.

If an investigation does not provide sufficient information about a suspected violation, you may need to appoint an in-depth investigation.

• Appoint an investigator
• Inform those affected
• Students
• Your role as a manager

Appoint an investigator

It is important to carefully consider who should be appointed as the investigator. The person must have knowledge of violations and relevant legislation, be completely impartial and be able to handle issues relating to integrity.

The investigator must also be able to analyse information and meet both parties and any witnesses in a respectful and appropriate manner. There must be no personal ties between the investigator and those involved, such as kinship, close friendship or enmity.

In more complex cases, it may be advantageous to have two investigators. In that case, one can lead the conversation and ask questions while the other takes notes. This also provides better support in analysing the material and drawing conclusions.

Inform those involved

Once you have appointed the investigator, the next step is to inform those involved about who will conduct the investigation and what it entails.

You should also provide the document Information for those involved in an investigation of harassment to all those concerned.

Affected employees should be informed that they are welcome to bring a union representative or other support person to meetings concerning the investigation. The support person must not be involved in or a witness to the case, and we do not recommend that safety representatives act as support persons.

Employees are of course also entitled to support via the occupational health service or contracted providers.

Students

If students are involved, they should be given the same opportunity to bring a student union representative or other support person who is not involved in the case, and they can turn to Student Health Services for support.

Your role as a manager

As a manager, you should provide the investigator with all relevant information you have about the case so that the investigation can be conducted in a correct and complete manner.

Regardless of the outcome of an investigation, you need to take measures to prevent similar situations in the future. The measures can be implemented at different levels depending on the specific situation.

• When the investigation reveals a violation of the law
• Action plan for misconduct
• When the investigation does not reveal a violation of the law
• If no work environment problems are identified
• Documentation in the IA system
• Examples of measures
• Follow up to ensure that the measures are effective
• Preventive work – part of SAM, OSA and SFAD
• Related information

When the investigation shows a violation of the law

If an investigation shows that an incident constitutes offensive treatment, harassment or sexual harassment, or that there are deficiencies in the social or organisational work environment that contributed to the incident, you as a manager have a clear responsibility to act.

You need to take immediate action and at the same time work preventively within the systematic work environment programme (SAM) and the systematic preventive work against discrimination (SFAD).

If a student has harassed or sexually harassed an employee, you, or the person responsible for the education programme, must report the matter to the Vice-Chancellor for handling by the Disciplinary Board.

Action plan for misconduct

If you assess that an employee has behaved badly towards a colleague or student and needs to change their behaviour, you should start an individual case in the diary.

Start with an awareness-raising conversation with the employee and draw up an action plan together with the HR partner and the employee. Follow up on the plan on an ongoing basis. If the behaviour does not cease, continue to handle the matter in accordance with the process for misconduct.

The person who has been subjected to harassment should be informed that measures are being taken, but not given details of how you are dealing with the person who has behaved badly.

If others in the workplace or educational institution are affected by the incident, they should be informed of measures taken at group or organisational level, but individual measures may only be discussed with the individual concerned, their union representative and the HR partner.

When the investigation does not show harassment according to the law

An investigation may show that what happened does not meet the legal requirements for harassment. Explain to both parties what led to this conclusion – the incident may still have affected the work environment.

You still have a responsibility to prevent similar situations from occurring. Draw up an action plan with relevant measures, follow up and adjust as necessary. Ensure that no one is harmed after the investigation.

Feel free to use the Swedish Work Environment Authority's regulations (AFS 2023:2) on organisational and social work environments to identify underlying causes.

If necessary, you can order a special work environment investigation – contact your HR partner for support.

If no work environment problems are found

If the investigation shows that there has been no violation or work environment problem, you still need to ensure that the person who felt violated receives support. Their feelings are justified even if the incident is not classified as a violation. Also support the person who has been singled out – an investigation can be stressful.

Seek help from your HR partner to find the right support measures.

Documentation in the IA system

All measures must be documented in the IA system:

• Individual level: Write ‘Individual measures, misconduct’.
• Group/organisation: Specify the measures that have been taken. Also note when you have offered support conversations or similar.

Examples of measures

Measures should prevent violations from occurring again. They can be at individual, group or organisational level.

At individual level

• Make it clear that the behaviour is unacceptable and must stop.
• Follow up regularly and keep a close eye on risky situations.
• Offer counselling via the occupational health service.
• Follow the misconduct process if the behaviour continues.
• For students: report to the vice-chancellor if the behaviour does not cease.

At group/organisational level

• Review the distribution of roles and procedures – are they clear and well known?
• Ensure knowledge of legislation and prohibitions against violations.
• Hold discussions about treatment and jargon – use university-wide support material.
• Adjust workload and organisation.
• Seek help from HR, SFAD coordinators, work environment coordinators and safety representatives.

Follow up to ensure that the measures are working

As a manager, you are responsible for following up and evaluating the measures you have put in place. The aim is to ensure that the violations are not repeated.

If the measures prove to be insufficient, you need to consider further action to stop the behaviour. Seek help from your HR partner if necessary.

You are obliged to put a stop to the offensive behaviour and prevent it from happening again. If the problem is bigger than your institution or department, raise the issue with your own manager.

Document on an ongoing basis

Accurate documentation is crucial. It provides a basis for follow-up and shows that the case has been handled correctly. If the case is referred to the Staff Disciplinary Board (PAN), everything must be investigated, handled and documented in a clear and transparent manner.

The documentation also helps you to determine whether the violations are part of a larger problem that requires broader measures.

Documentation means that you and others working on the measures continuously note:

• When something happens or deviates from the plan
• Decisions and memos
• Memos or diary entries

Remember that, as a general rule, documents that are drawn up are public documents. Therefore, always write in a factual and clear manner.

The documentation should be easy to retrieve for follow-up and understandable to an outsider, for example in a court hearing or during an inspection by the Discrimination Ombudsman.

Preventive work – part of SAM, OSA and SFAD

Preventive work against violations is part of:

• Systematic work environment management (SAM)
• Organisational and social work environment (OSA)
• Systematic preventive work against discrimination (SFAD)

In this work, you need support from the work environment coordinator and SFAD coordinator. HR partners provide particular support if there is a risk of ill health among employees. Feel free to involve the safety representative in the planning – they can contribute valuable perspectives and ideas.

Also engage the work group, as we are each other's work environment.

Related information

• Systematic work environment management (SAM)
• Organisational and social work environment (OSA)
• Systematic preventive work against discrimination (SFAD)
• The Staff Disciplinary Board, PAN (Staff Pages)