Not quite as common as you think. For instance, Github: "Rhoma identified the employees she wanted to talk to based on an initial list we provided, the evidenc

Not quite as common as you think. For instance, Github: "Rhoma identified the employees she wanted to talk to based on an initial list we provided, the evidence she gathered, employees who asked to speak with her, people Julie asked her to speak with, and anyone else she determined was relevant, including Julie herself." Sounds like she spoke to 'Julie' (i.e. the woman who made the accusations). As for independence: "When the allegations against GitHub were raised publicly we took them seriously and within days launched an investigation into what happened. We hired Rhoma Young, an independent, third-party investigator that GitHub had never worked with before. Rhoma has a long history of conducting fair and impartial investigations, with 30+ years of HR experience. She has worked with every type of organization, from Fortune 50 companies to local governments, and frequently testifies as an expert witness for both plaintiffs and defendants in depositions, arbitrations, and in litigation involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, disability, and mitigation of damages. Most importantly, Rhoma does not have a history of siding with companies or otherwise being a partisan, industry spokesperson. Half of her litigation witness work is on the side of employees, half for companies. Her job is to investigate situations and figure out what actually happened, even when the people who hired her don’t want to hear it." The full report is available here if you want to read it: https://github.com/blog/1826-follow-up-to-the-investigation-results https://github.com/blog/1826-follow-up-to-the-investigation-...