LEIST & ASSOCIATES.

Bill Leist has 30 years of law enforcement experience, retiring in 2010 as an Assistant Chief from the California Highway Patrol. The last 20 of those years, he gained extensive management experience handling a wide variety of complex issues, giving him a solid foundation in all aspects of personnel management.

While a Captain, Mr. Leist served as the statewide commander of CHP Internal Affairs where he became an expert in personnel investigations and the laws, regulations and issues pertaining to them.

Since leaving the CHP, Mr. Leist opened Leist and Associates and has been providing professional investigative and consulting services to a wide variety of clients, mostly in the public sector.

With over 300 personnel investigations conducted, the feedback received has been overwhelmingly positive.

Mr. Leist delivers a timely, thorough, and detailed investigative report on every case accepted.

With 35 years of experience in personnel management and investigation, Mr. Leist applies both legal and practical talents when performing workplace investigations. Mr. Leist has the unique ability to get to the relevant truth regarding any workplace matter, but also the managerial and leadership experience to offer solutions to clients, if requested, in identifying and overcoming the root cause of the workplace dysfunction. He has often been utilized to provide leadership mentoring and or consulting services in setting up practical systems or processes that work to prevent a reoccurrence.

Considered the gold standard in the industry, Mr. Leist is a graduate of the National Institute for Workplace Investigators sponsored by the Association of Workplace Investigators. Mr. Leist is also trained and highly experienced in conducting discrimination and sexual harassment.

Our promise to our clients.

“Leist & Associates will conduct a professional, objective, and confidential investigation, documented in a comprehensive and detailed report. Our comprehensive investigative report will include well-reasoned and factual findings, providing you with the essential information needed to make your most critical personnel decisions.”

Our Expertise.

WORKPLACE INVESTIGATIONS

Employers are commonly faced with complaints of discrimination, harassment or retaliation or are faced with situations involving possible employee misconduct and/or policy violations. Workplace complaints require immediate, professional and experienced responses in order to avoid costly litigation, escalation of behaviors, low morale, financial losses and other negative impacts to your organization. An unbiased investigation will help you limit loss and exposure, while not overburdening internal resources. Failure to conduct a prompt, thorough and unbiased investigation in certain circumstances can also lead to liability.

Public sector investigations can be especially challenging if your investigator is unfamiliar with the laws that protect public employees. Having spent many years in the public sector dealing specifically with employee misconduct, sexual harassment and discrimination allegations, Mr. Leist has the training, knowledge and experience in conducting public sector investigations, including those involving employees protected by the Public Safety Officers Bill of Rights (POBR) and Firefighter Bill of Rights (FBOR).

Impartiality is vital to a workplace investigation. The purpose of the investigation is to determine the facts, which enables the employer to appropriately respond. The use of an outside investigator also spares many employees the discomfort of discussing difficult matters with people who work with them on a regular basis, thus giving them the freedom to be candid and provide necessary information to the investigator.

TITLE IX INVESTIGATIONS

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” (Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972)

This law reaches far beyond the sports programs, which is what many initially thought of when Title IX was enacted. It places an obligation on any educational institution receiving federal financial assistance to ensure, not only its students, but also its staff, are free from any sort of discrimination based on sex.

According to the April 4, 2011 Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), Dear Colleague Letter, “discrimination on the basis of sex includes sexual harassment and sexual violence. Sexual violence refers to rape, sexual assault, sexual battery and sexual coercion. All such acts of sexual violence are forms of sexual harassment covered under Title IX.”

In order to do that, those educational institutions must investigate claims of sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, nonconsensual sexual contact and/or sexual assault in a manner, which protects both the complainant and the accused. OCR requires that the Title IX investigation be “adequate, reliable, impartial and prompt and include the opportunity for both parties to present witnesses and other evidence.”

While many education institutions have the resources and ability to conduct investigations in-house, there may be situations where doing so is not feasible. OCR’s requirement for a “prompt” investigation may necessitate an outside investigator with specific knowledge of Title IX to conduct the investigation.

Mr. Leist has extensive knowledge and training in conducting Title IX investigations and has the ability to approach all investigations in an unbiased manner. He is professional, sensitive and respectful and has the communication skills necessary in these confidential and sensitive investigations. His reports are detailed and provide a thorough fact-finding analysis.

·Violation of Employer’s Policy

·Discrimination

·Harassment

·Disparate Treatment

·Disparate Impact

·Hostile Work Environment

·Retaliation

·Title IX Investigations

·Whistle Blower

·Fraud and/or Theft

·Other workplace misconduct

·POBR and FBOR related matters

·Workers Comp Fraud

·AOE/COE Investigations

what our clients are saying.

“The City of Coalinga has contracted with Leist and Associates to conduct personnel investigations on numerous occasions. Their knowledge, expertise and professionalism have proven to be extremely valuable and their willingness to be flexible and accommodating with scheduling has been very much appreciated. Bill and his staff are genuine in investigating all allegations to determine facts without presenting any form of bias. They have earned the respect and trust of City staff and they have demonstrated significant understanding of POBR and FBOR. They are easily accessible, very responsive, and conduct investigations in a timely manner. I highly recommend Leist and Associates for any investigative work.”

Marrisa Trejo, City Manager

City of Coalinga

“Investigator Bill Leist is the very definition of 'professional'. Bill and I were on the proverbial opposite sides of a large-scale investigation involving many employees of a sizable organization. While Bill was certainly courteous to all of my clients, he was unyielding with his questions in his pursuit to uncover the truth of the accusations. Bill was thorough and tough, but always fair. Bill's final report and findings were thoughtful, clearly written and persuasive. His ability to venture into the weeds of the issues and organize and sift through hours of interviews and hundreds of pages of documents was not only impressive, but a testament of his vast knowledge, experience and investigative skills. Bill Leist is simply an outstanding investigator and the right person for the most complex jobs.”

Roger D. Wilson, Legal Defense Attorney

PORAC

“Mr. Leist is an efficient, practical, and thorough investigator. His prior experience as a law enforcement officer and government investigator gives him a highly pragmatic frame of reference that keeps the investigative processed focused on the matter at hand, and gives him a highly effective approach to complex private sector issues. In a sensitive workplace investigation involving years-worth of potential issues, Mr. Leist skillfully isolated our core concerns from collateral distractions, and quickly produced a concise report with decision-grade findings that enabled our leadership to make the right decision with confidence. Leist & Associates provided our company with an efficient, highly-competent, and cost-effective solution, and we would not hesitate to employ them again.”

Mikael Johnson, General Counsel

The HMC Group Marketing, Inc.

“It has been my pleasure to work with Mr. Bill Leist on multiple investigations into employee misconduct. In my role as Director of Human Resources for a public school system, I have personally observed Mr. Leist’s interview tactics, work ethic and professional report writing. His background in law enforcement provides him with the key skills needed to be an effective investigator. His work has produced evidence that allowed us to implement employee discipline. I will not hesitate to use Mr. Leist’s services in the future and I highly recommend him to any educational agency faced with difficult employee conduct issues.”

Scott Yeager, Director of Human Resources

Coalinga-Huron Unified School District

“During my 30 years of law-enforcement service, I have had the pleasure of working with Bill Leist on numerous occasions. I have always found him to be incredibly easy to work with and of the highest integrity. Recently, I had an opportunity to work with Bill's investigative service, Leist and Associates, and found his investigation skills and related work product to be exemplary.”

Robert Nevarez, Deputy Chief of Police

Fresno Police Department

“As Chief of Police, I have needed the services of an investigation firm to handle sensitive internal investigations for the Coalinga Police Department. I have found that Leist and Associates has performed the services that were required in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Leist and his investigators are sensitive and professional. The work product delivered was complete and thorough, addressing all issues that needed to be investigated in a systematic manner. I would highly recommend Leist and Associates for any confidential internal or other personnel in investigation.”

Michael Salvador, Chief of Police

Coalinga Police Department

BSIS Lic. #28779

bill@leistandassociates.com

635 Barstow Avenue, Suite 9, Clovis, CA 93612