Straight answers on HR risk, complaints, investigations, EEOC charges and growing past 50 employees, written by Noël Tarquinii. I've sat in the CEO, COO, CAO and CHRO seats, as a founder and as a partner. Strategy, not legal advice.
For founders, CEOs, and leadership teams who want to find HR exposure before a complaint, charge, or lawsuit does.
An HR hire or HR software is not the same as HR infrastructure. What a growing company needs in place before 50 employees, and why the record matters.
Read the guide →HR InfrastructureWhat growing companies must build between 50 and 250 employees: legal thresholds, a real manager layer, investigations, pay structure, and leadership.
Read the guide →Claim PreventionHow documentation consistency, complaint intake, investigation protocol, and termination sequencing prevent employment claims and EEOC charges.
Read the guide →Complaints and InvestigationsA six-step process for handling an employee complaint when you have no HR team, and why the first 72 hours decide whether it becomes a retaliation claim.
Read the guide →EEOC ChargesWhat to do after your company receives an EEOC charge: the litigation hold, the documentation audit, the position statement, and mediation versus conciliation.
Read the guide →Performance and DocumentationCompleting reviews is not enough. How consistent, specific, and timely performance documentation protects a company when a termination is challenged.
Read the guide →Compliance by HeadcountThe federal employment law thresholds at 1, 15, 20, 50 and 100 employees, the Title VII damage caps, and why state law adds more in every state you hire.
Read the guide →InvestigationsA 12-point checklist for internal workplace investigations: neutrality, scope, witnesses, evidence, credibility, conclusions, and retaliation safeguards.
Read the guide →Executive SeparationsAn employer's checklist for separating a senior executive: agreements, protected activity, approvals, OWBPA, 409A, clawbacks, and disclosure.
Read the guide →Facing a severance offer, a PIP or an investigation yourself? Most of these guides now live on HR Armor, my brand built for exactly that. The board guide stays here.
How executives negotiate severance: where leverage comes from, what is negotiable beyond cash, the documents to read first, and the timing rules that matter.
Read the guide →Severance and ExitsBefore you sign a severance agreement: a 12-point review of the release, payment terms, equity, restrictive covenants, timing, and what you cannot waive.
Read the guide →Performance PlansWhat a performance improvement plan means at the senior level, how to read and respond to it, and how to choose between staying, negotiating an exit, or leaving.
Read the guide →InvestigationsWhat senior leaders should do when investigated at work: the interview, who company counsel represents, records, leave, and next moves.
Read the guide →Governance and LeadershipWhat CEOs should do when the board relationship breaks down: governance, the record, good reason clauses, whistleblower protection, and exits.
Read the guide →New charges of discrimination filed with the EEOC in FY2025.
EEOC, April 2026Recovered by the EEOC for 17,680 workers in FY2025.
EEOC, April 2026Of FY2024 EEOC charges alleged retaliation, the most common basis for 17 straight years.
EEOC FY2024 enforcement statisticsShort, direct answers. When your situation needs more than an answer, that is what advisory is for.
No. Take the time the agreement allows to understand what claims you are releasing, what you receive beyond what you are already owed, and what restrictions follow you. See the 12-point review.
If you are 40 or older and are releasing age claims, federal law generally gives you 21 days to consider (45 in a group program) and 7 days to revoke after signing. Otherwise the agreement sets the deadline, and extensions are often available if you ask.
Usually. The company is typically paying for a release of claims and a clean transition, which gives you room to negotiate cash, bonus, equity, benefits, restrictive covenants, and the announcement. See how executives negotiate severance.
Usually the right to sue the company over known and unknown claims up to the date you sign. A release generally cannot stop you from filing an EEOC charge or communicating with the SEC, and it does not take away vested benefits.
At the senior level it often is, but not always. The specificity of the goals, the resources provided, and the timing relative to anything you raised are the best signals. See PIPs for senior leaders.
Usually not without a plan. Resigning often forfeits severance and leverage and may affect unemployment eligibility. A negotiated separation or a planned exit is usually the better path.
Stay calm and professional, cooperate truthfully, do not contact the complainant or witnesses about the matter, preserve your own records without taking company data, and keep private notes. If termination or reputational harm is possible, speak with an employment attorney early. See being investigated at work.
Federal law prohibits retaliation for protected activity such as reporting discrimination or harassment, participating in an investigation, or requesting an accommodation. Outside those protections, most U.S. employment is at will, which is why timing and documentation matter.
A resignation treated as a termination because working conditions were so intolerable that a reasonable person would feel compelled to quit. It is a high bar, so resigning and relying on it is risky.
Often both, for different jobs. An employment attorney tells you your legal rights and reviews documents. A strategic advisor helps you read the situation, protect your reputation, and negotiate the business terms of your next move.
Acknowledge it in writing, keep it from the person accused, decide whether it needs a formal investigation, document the process, and hold any decisions about the complaining employee until it is closed. See handling a complaint without HR.
When the complaint involves a senior leader or owner, when no one internal is neutral and trained, when allegations are serious or multiple, or when litigation looks likely.
Check whether the investigator was neutral and trained, whether the scope matched the allegations, whether relevant witnesses and documents were covered, whether credibility findings are explained, and whether the conclusion follows from the evidence. See the 12-point investigation review.
Issue a litigation hold, involve employment counsel, calendar the deadline, and audit the documentation before writing the position statement. See the first 90 days after a charge.
Before it needs it. Federal anti-discrimination law applies at 15 employees and FMLA at 50, and state law often applies sooner. See compliance by headcount.
Review the executive's agreements and the record first, check for protected activity, plan the announcement and transition, and offer a separation agreement with appropriate time to review. Involve employment counsel before the conversation. See the employer's checklist.
No. Workplace Intelligence is an advisory practice. It does not provide legal advice or representation, and it works alongside your employment counsel when legal questions arise.
Workplace Intelligence is Noël Tarquinii's advisory practice for owners of businesses that already make money: growth built, run and measured. HR Armor is her brand for employees and executives facing PIPs, investigations, retaliation and severance.
Bring me what you're facing. I review every inquiry personally and keep it confidential.