I have been working for a company for 13 years. i have been a supervisor for about 7 of those years. I had an employee that became disgruntled. We were friends for most of the time she was employed, about 1 year. She wrote a letter to our HR departments with many accusations, most of them were inaccurate. She turned in her 2 week notice on the same day. Toward the end of the week, she was being very difficult so I called HR, they spoke to her and relieved her of her duties with full pay for the two weeks. The following week an anonymous letter was sent with more accusations, some of them were accurate which I admitted to right away, but I made the necessary changes right away as well. The letter was just ranting. I have always had a pretty good relationship with the staff so I was kind of hurt. After this employee left, everyone was commenting on how much nicer it is without her. Now three months later, HR gets another letter, again anonymous, with even further accusations of a more serious nature, intimidation, retalliation ect. These are 100% false. I have requested HR to come down and investigate. They will individually interview each employee. My questions is, How do I defend myself against anonymous complaints? I feel that the person responsible for the letters is the person who wrote the first one. Of course I can't prove it. If this continues to happen and I am on the hot seat, so to speak, this does not create a pleasant working environment for me. I realize the company must investigate these complaints but what rights do I have and how do I defend myself?

The best way to defend yourself is to cooperate fully with the investigation. In fact, it is the only way.