Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Internal inquiries conducted by employers into suspected misconduct by employees, which are commonly known as workplace investigations, are significant and common processes in workplaces in Australia, and beyond. Stakes are high for all parties involved in a workplace investigation, including for the employee or ‘respondent’ whose conduct is investigated.</jats:p> <jats:p>This work is the first in its field to critically evaluate the legal regulation of employer conduct towards respondents in workplace investigations. It draws on interdisciplinary texts as well as theoretical, doctrinal, and empirical legal research methods to present the first sustained examination of the subject from a legal perspective. This volume provides an in-depth examination of the central dimensions of judge-made and statute law that apply to employer conduct during workplace investigations and normatively evaluates the legal framework with a focus on respondents as subjects of the law.</jats:p> <jats:p>It argues that the law requires reform to better promote justice for respondents. It draws on ideas about workplace democracy and citizenship at work to conceptualize a framework of justice for respondents in workplace investigations that includes nine elements. Combined with findings derived from interdisciplinary, doctrinal, theoretical, and empirical legal research methods, this conceptual framework informs a proposal for legal reform. While focused on the Australian case study, this monograph sets out a legal exposition of workplace investigations as sites of employer power and control that will be of broader relevance and resonance in common law jurisdictions where employers conduct workplace investigations.</jats:p>