Racial Discrimination

No Matter How Bad it Looks, Don’t Rush to Judgment: Do an Investigation

By Debra Reilly on July 27, 2010

News flash: Context matters! Big headlines this last week about the Obama administration’s rush to judgment in demanding the resignation of Shirley Sherrod, the former Agricultural Department’s Chief of Rural Development in its Georgia office. She was forced to resign after a 2 and 1/2 minute clip of her March 2010 speech at an N.A.A.C.P.

Throughout her 30-year legal career, Debra L. Reilly has conducted over 900 internal workplace investigations for various counties, municipalities (including police departments and fire departments), water districts, sanitation districts, transportation authorities, public and private elementary schools (K-12), private and public colleges and universities, the United States Postal Service (holding a “sensitive” security clearance by the Postal Inspector’s Office), and a multitude of private sector employers . Debra has conducted employment investigations throughout the United States and California. She has testified in depositions, arbitrations, and trial concerning the findings of her investigations. Given her legal training and litigation experience representing both management and employees, Ms. Reilly’s investigations are impartial, objective, and thorough. Ms. Reilly has also testified as an expert witness in Human Resources standard practices in conducting harassment and discrimination investigations, as well as Human Resources standard practices in conducting reasonable accommodation assessments of disabled employees and engaging in the interactive process.