The most expensive complaint-handling mistake is a category error: treating a harassment report like a personality conflict, or a wage complaint like a gripe. This tool classifies the complaint and tells you what level of response it needs, today.
This tool routes complaints to a response level for planning purposes. It is not legal advice and does not replace judgment on specific facts. Threats of violence should be treated as emergencies through your safety protocol, not through any online tool.
Certain categories carry a legal floor regardless of how minor the facts sound: harassment and discrimination, retaliation, wage practices, safety, and leave or accommodation issues all involve protected activity or protected rights, which means the response is measured later against a legal standard, not a customer-service standard.
Who is accused, how many people are affected, prior complaints, and evidence-preservation risk each escalate the level. An executive accused, multiple complainants, or a documented prior pattern moves an otherwise routine matter into formal or outside-investigation territory, because internal credibility and objectivity get harder exactly when the stakes rise.
Level 1: supervisor handling with documentation. Level 2: HR review. Level 3: formal internal investigation with a plan, interviews, and findings. Level 4: outside investigator, used when internal objectivity is compromised. Level 5: counsel involvement and immediate protective steps. The level is about the process the matter needs, not about assuming guilt.
Not for the legal-floor categories. Once the organization knows about potential harassment, retaliation, wage, or safety issues, the duty to respond attaches to the organization, not to the complainant's preference. You can honor confidentiality requests in how you investigate, but not by not investigating.
Because everyone who would normally investigate reports to, or is influenced by, the accused. An internal investigation of an owner or executive has a built-in objectivity problem that an agency or jury will see instantly; outside investigation protects both the complainant and the organization's ability to rely on the findings.
Document the complaint as reported, preserve evidence (suspend auto-deletion, secure video, save messages), assess whether interim protective steps are needed, and decide the level. Do not interview anyone substantively before there is a plan, and do not let the accused's supervisor start freelancing conversations.
Downgrading based on the complainant's tone. Quiet, hedged, “I don’t want to make a big deal of this” complaints get under-leveled constantly, and they are exactly the ones that appear in charges later with the note “employer was told and did nothing.” Triage the content, not the delivery.
Book a no-cost 30-minute consult. Bring your result, and leave with a straight read on the risk and a practical next step.