In the era of the whistleblower, we often see "hybrid" complaints in which claims of discrimination or harassment are coupled with a claim of retaliation for blowing the whistle on alleged illegal conduct. For example, an employee may claim that her employer discriminated against her because of her sex and retaliated against her for blowing the whistle on violations of anti-money laundering or environmental laws, or accounting or shareholder fraud.

Internal investigations of hybrid claims may require an understanding of issues that go beyond whether the employee suffered discrimination or harassment. The investigator will need to understand the employer's regulatory environment and whether the employee's claim of wrongdoing are correct—and, critically, whether the employee's belief that the employer was violating the law was reasonable.

It therefore may be unwise, when presented with a hybrid retaliation claim, for any one department of a company, or for any single investigator, to be solely responsible for carrying out the investigation. Instead, several stakeholders, such as executives in Human Resources, Compliance, or Legal, may need to have joint responsibility. They will necessarily focus on different activities and inquiries.