The incident started when a controversial video excerpt was posted by a conservative blogger. In the clip, Sherrod, an African American, appeared to make racist comments at a NAACP meeting about not helping a white farmer. The video was picked up by a major media outlet and the USDA quickly responded.

"They called me twice," Sherrod told the AP, noting that she was driving when she received the calls. "The last time they asked me to pull over the side of the road and submit my resignation on my Blackberry, and that's what I did."

After she resigned, it was discovered that the video clip was edited in a way to misconstrue Sherrod’s speech. When the video was viewed in its entirety, the portion about her hesitance to help a white farmer was revealed to be an anecdote about how racism is wrong no matter who is being discriminated against. Furthermore, she is reported to have gone on to help the white farmer, and even become friends with him and his family. The wife of the farmer told reporters Sherrod "helped us save our farm by getting in there and doing all she could do to help us."

Since the entire video has been released, apologies have been made by government officials. Furthermore, the USDA reportedly took steps to reinstate Sherrod, offering her the position of Deputy Director of the office of advocacy and outreach at the USDA.

Conducting an investigation. The question for HR professionals is how could this situation be avoided? When reacting to alleged employee misconduct, the main lesson is to conduct a thorough investigation before taking action. Here are some steps on conducting employee investigations:

• Start investigating the alleged misconduct as soon as possible.
• Depending on the nature of the employee's conduct, the employer may find it necessary to suspend an employee pending the outcome of an investigation.    
• Gather witness accounts, if any. 
• Review any other evidence related to the misconduct.

Get the employee’s side of the story. In the Sherrod case, her side of the story was not taken into consideration before she was asked to resign, an important step in an employee investigation.

It is important that the employee accused of misconduct be given an opportunity to explain the incident, respond to information gathered by the employer from documents and other employees, and to provide the employer with any additional information. If the employee provides the employer with new information, this information should be investigated as well.

Source:

CBSNews