INDONESIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Lia Alizia, Jonathan Andreas Sitorus and El Yefta Akwila, Alizia & Partners Law Office
Alizia & Partners Law Office Lippo Tower Holland Village 31st Floor, Unit 3105 Jl Letjend Suprapto Kav 60 No 1
Cempaka Putih Timur Jakarta Pusat 10510 Indonesia Tel: +62 819 9497 9797 Email: l.alizia@alizialawoffice.com Web: www.alizialawoffice.com
1. Opening an HR Internal Investigation 1.1 Circumstances Human resources internal investigations are a cru - cial mechanism for tackling workplace problems and managing concerns, organisational policies and legal obligations within an organisation. These investiga - tions are often undertaken when allegations or inci - dents threaten the safety, integrity or fairness of an institution. Such investigations aim to examine the facts, investigate malpractice, find out what happened and avoid a toxic culture in an organisation. HR internal investigations will inevitably start in par - ticular situations: for example, in response to employ - ee complaints, regulatory inquiries, audits, audit find - ings, workplace conflicts and cybersecurity matters. Among the most common triggers are complaints from employees, which may relate to acts of harass - ment, discrimination or workplace bullying and require immediate attention, full adherence to anti-discrimina - tion laws and protection of the rights of employees. Likewise, whistle-blower and anonymous complaints, often involving ethical violations or violations of poli - cy that are sensitive in nature and/or code violations, must be dealt with both impartially and equitably. Subsequent investigations may also be sparked by regulatory and legal compliance issues – eg, in relation to financial disparities, wage disputes and workplace safety violations – in an effort to reduce the threat of non-compliance and potential fines. Furthermore, financial irregularities revealed by auditing and data
breaches demonstrate the need for HR to work in co- operation with other departments to correct wrongdo - ing and maintain the integrity of organisations. 1.2 Bases There are no specific laws that oblige a company to conduct an HR internal investigation; however, in practice, HR internal investigations are carried out in cases of serious violations occurring within the work environment. Typically, significant misconduct like sexual harass - ment, governed by Law No 12 of 2022 regarding the Criminal Act of Sexual Violence (“Law 12/2022”), as well as discrimination, fraud or any other unlawful activities that violate the employment contract, com - pany rules, collective labour agreements or organisa - tional policies necessitate that an employer conduct an internal HR investigation. Although there are no specific provisions in the man - power laws that explicitly permit companies to con - duct HR internal investigations, it is generally accept - ed that such investigations can proceed if there is a violation of company policies, company regulations or collective labour agreements that necessitates an internal inquiry, provided those violations do not fall under the jurisdiction of law enforcement authorities. A further acceptable rationale for initiating an HR inter - nal investigation is in response to performance-related issues; in these cases, the investigation will evaluate an employee’s performance during assigned projects or tasks over a specified timeframe.
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