Reduce your legal risks by dealing with discrimination and harassment complaints quickly and carefully.

Most employers are anxious when faced with discrimination and harassment complaints. And with good reason: Such complaints can lead to workplace tension, government investigations, and even costly legal battles. If the complaint is mishandled, even unintentionally, an employer may unwittingly put itself out of business.

If you take the complaint seriously, however, and follow a careful strategy for dealing with it, you can reduce the likelihood of a lawsuit and even improve employee relations in the process.

Here are some basics rules to follow if you receive a complaint of discrimination or harassment:

• Keep an open mind. Many employers have a hard time believing that discrimination or harassment could be happening right under their noses. As a result, they often fail to investigate complaints, assuming that they could not possibly be true. Unfortunately, failing to investigate a complaint is a surefire way to land in court. Investigate every complaint you receive. Don't come to any conclusions until your investigation is complete.

• Treat the complainer with respect and compassion. Employees often find it extremely difficult to complain about discrimination or harassment. They feel vulnerable and afraid. This can have an impact on the quality of their work, and it can also lead them to seek outside assistance from lawyers. When an employee comes to you with concerns about discrimination or harassment, be understanding. An employee who feels that you are taking the problem seriously is less likely to escalate the issue to a government agency or to court.

• Do not blame the complainer. You may be tempted to become angry at the complaining employee for the fact that you must now deal with the specter of discrimination and harassment in your business. But don't forget that the complaining employee is the victim and not the cause of the problem. If you allow yourself to become angry at the employee, you open yourself up to claims of illegal retaliation (see next tip, below). You also run the risk of polarizing your workplace, damaging morale, and lowering productivity.

• Don't retaliate against the complainer. It is against the law to punish someone for complaining about discrimination or harassment. The most obvious forms of retaliation are termination, discipline, demotion, pay cuts, or threats to do any of these things. More subtle forms of retaliation may include changing the shift hours or work area of the accuser, changing the accuser's job responsibilities, or isolating the accuser by leaving her out of meetings and other office functions.

• Follow established procedures. If you have an employee handbook or other documented policies relating to discrimination and harassment, follow those policies. Don't open yourself up to claims of unfair treatment by bending the rules.

• Educate yourself. Do some research on the law of discrimination and harassment: what it is, how it is proven in court, and what your responsibilities are as an employer.

• Interview the people involved. Start by talking to the person who complained. Find out exactly what the employee's concerns are. Get details: what was said or done, when, and where, and who else was there. Take notes of your interviews. Then talk to any employees who are being accused of discrimination or harassment. Get details from them as well. Be sure to interview any witnesses who may have seen or heard any problematic conduct. Gather any relevant documents. For detailed information on conducting an investigation, see Workplace Investigations, by Lisa Guerin (Nolo) (it includes separate chapters on investigating discrimination and harassment).

• Look for corroboration or contradiction. Discrimination and harassment complaints often offer the classic example of "he said/she said." Often, the accuser and accused offer different versions of incidents, leaving you with conflicting stories. You may have to turn to other sources for clues. For example, schedules, time cards, and other attendance records (for trainings, meetings, and so on) may help you determine if each party was where he or she claimed to be. Witnesses -- including coworkers, vendors, customers, or friends -- may have seen part of an incident. And, in some cases, documents will prove one side right. After all, it's hard to argue with an email that contains racial slurs or sexual innuendo.

• Keep it confidential. A discrimination complaint can polarize a workplace. Workers will likely side with either the complaining employee or the accused employee, and the rumor mill will start working overtime. Worse, if too many details about the complaint are leaked, you may be accused of damaging the reputation of the alleged victim or alleged harasser -- and get slapped with a defamation lawsuit. Avoid these problems by insisting on confidentiality and practicing it in your investigation.