Vida Thomas

Workplace investigations & training

Sacramento

Everyone at the Oppenheimer Investigations Group is so committed to keeping their workplace investigations confidential that even internally they referred to one very special matter as "the muckety-muck case," according to Vida Thomas, the firm's managing partner.

All Thomas would say about the high muckety-muck being investigated was that the person was "a very, very high-profile person with a very specific reputation" in the tech field.

Her firm was "called in to thoroughly and discreetly investigate some very concerning allegations," she said.

It did, after which they were "able to let the employer know perhaps what was alleged wasn't substantiated as alleged, but this person who's been accused engaged in poor judgment, especially given their position of power."

The 23 lawyers in Thomas's firm primarily take on workplace investigations for corporate and public-entity clients. "We make it clear to the employer that our intention is to be open and fair and impartial and to reach reasoned findings no matter who may be pleased or displeased with them," she said.

Clients have included many municipal governments, colleges and school districts, a public defender's office, the state Assembly, several high-tech companies and hospital systems.

They conduct similar but different investigations called climate assessments. Using interviews, anonymous surveys and focus groups, the group learns employees' "perceptions, their experiences of their workplaces, their managers" to identify general trends and problem areas at the workplace. Reporting the findings anonymously "keeps the employer focused on solutions and not on the identities of who said what," she said.

If an investigation highlights or leads to conflicts at a workplace, some group attorneys can provide conflict resolution services and training.

"Our investigations and reports give the employer some really helpful information about some changes that might need to occur either with an individual or with a work group or with the organization as a whole," Thomas said.

"We like to think that we help employers create healthy and safe workplaces."

As managing partner, Thomas spends about two-thirds of her time running the firm and about 5% of her time acting as an expert witness. For the rest of her time, "I do a lot of public speaking, including public speaking for free training," she said.

-- Don DeBenedictis