Employee Relations Specialist

Corporate Employee Relations Specialist

Position at Clarvida - Corporate Employee Relations Specialist Location: California (Remote, with travel across the state, as needed) Employment Type: Full-time, Exempt Salary: $65,000.00-$85,000.00 Position Summary The Employee Relations Specialist role is designed to provide consistent, fair, and legally compliant handling of sensitive workplace matters across Clarvida's multi-state behavioral healthcare and human services environment. The role is accountable for timely case intake, sound risk assessment, neutral investigations, strong documentation, and practical guidance that helps resolve issues early while reinforcing respectful workplace standards and non-retaliation expectations. ER Specialists operate as trusted partners to leaders, HR Business Partners, Legal, Compliance, and Employee Relations leadership. They are expected to manage employee relations cases with discretion and sound judgment, conduct prompt and defensible investigations, strengthen manager capability through coaching and documentation review, and identify patterns that require broader intervention. For internal calibration, this role is expected to operate as a specialist function rather than a generalist extension. ER Specialists own intake, case management, investigations, findings summaries, and risk-aware guidance within their scope. They work in close partnership with HRBPs and leadership, but they are not expected to serve as the primary relationship manager for all leader issues, nor to absorb routine transactional work that belongs in other People functions. The Environment Behavioral health ER is different from ER in other industries. The allegations you will investigate will include clinical boundary violations, dual relationships between staff and clients, abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults and minors, workplace violence by clients toward staff and by staff toward clients, sexual harassment in settings where power dynamics are complicated by the therapeutic relationship, and retaliation complaints from employees who filed mandatory reports. The weight of this work is significant. Witnesses are often trauma survivors. Accused employees are sometimes also trauma survivors. The people you are investigating chose this work because they wanted to help people, and now they are the subject of a formal HR investigation. The ER Specialist must hold the complexity of all of that while running a legally sound, impartial investigation. Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Employee Relations Intake, Case Management & Resolution

• Serve as a primary point of contact for employee relations inquiries, concerns, and complaints; assess risk, urgency, and next steps using a consistent triage approach.
• Use the designated ER case management system to log intake, actions, timelines, outcomes, and follow-up steps; maintain accurate, confidential, and audit-ready case files.
• Provide timely and practical guidance to leaders, HR partners, and People leaders on appropriate interventions, including informal resolution, coaching, corrective action, investigation, escalation, or Legal partnership.
• Maintain visible ownership of open cases, follow through on next steps, and ensure matters do not stall between HRBPs, Operations, Legal, Compliance, or other stakeholders.
• Apply a multi-state lens to case handling and know when local employment law, policy differences, licensing obligations, or regulatory concerns require additional escalation.

Workplace Investigations

• Conduct prompt, neutral, and well-documented investigations into workplace misconduct, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, policy violations, performance-related complaints, and other sensitive employee relations matters.
• Build investigation plans, conduct interviews, gather and assess relevant facts, evaluate documentation, and draft clear summaries, findings, and recommendations that are objective and defensible.
• Apply confidentiality appropriately and consistently, protecting privacy while maintaining a fair process and limiting disclosures to legitimate need-to know stakeholders.
• Escalate high-risk or highly sensitive matters promptly to ER leadership, Legal, Compliance, or executive stakeholders when required.
• Maintain investigation quality through discipline documentation, timely updates, and consistent application of process across markets.

Manager Coaching, Corrective Action & Consistency

• Coach leaders on performance management, respectful workplace expectations, non-retaliation, documentation quality, progressive discipline, and appropriate handling of complaints or conduct concerns.
• Review and strengthen corrective action and performance documentation for clarity, consistency, and policy alignment; identify and flag uneven practice or emerging risk patterns.
• Partner with HRBPs and Operations leaders to address issues early and reduce avoidable escalation into more complex investigations or legal risk.
• Support consistency in how similar issues are handled across programs and markets while accounting for differences in state law, risk level, and business context.

Compliance & Risk Mitigation

• Support adherence to federal, state, and local employment laws as well as Clarvida policy standards; partner with Legal and Compliance as needed for higher-risk matters.
• Partner with Legal on sensitive investigations, corrective action recommendations, agency responses, or matters with potential litigation exposure to ensure sound process and defensible documentation.
• Support audits, external inquiries, or internal reviews when assigned, ensuring records are accurate, complete, and coordinated on time.
• Recognize trends in retaliation risk, policy inconsistency, poor documentation, or delayed response, and bring those forward before they become larger exposure.

Policy, Training & Continuous Improvement

• Contribute to the refinement and communication of workplace policies, investigation tools, ER playbooks, and manager guidance resources.
• Support ER training initiatives for leaders and employees, including respectful workplace practices, retaliation prevention, investigation process awareness, and documentation discipline.
• Track case themes and trends such as case types, repeat issues, aging, or time-to-resolution, and recommend interventions that strengthen culture, improve consistency, and reduce risk.
• For internal calibration, successful ER Specialists are expected to combine strong judgment, neutral fact-finding, high documentation standards, and reliable execution without drifting into either over-escalation or avoidable informality.
• Other Duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Must be based in California, as the role requires periodic travel to various sites within the state, as needed
• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 35 years of employee relations experience, including hands-on workplace investigations and case management responsibility.
• Working knowledge of employment laws and employee relations best practices, with strong interviewing, documentation, analytical, and risk assessment skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage sensitive matters with discretion, professionalism, neutrality, and sound judgment.
• Experience partnering with HRBPs, leaders, and Legal or Compliance stakeholders on complex employee relations matters.
• Experience supporting healthcare, behavioral health, human services, or another regulated, high-complexity environment.
• Experience supporting a multi-state organization, rapidly growing environment, or both.
• Strong written and verbal communication, calm professional presence, and the ability to move cases forward with consistent follow-through.

Preferred Qualifications

• PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, or AWI-CH (Association of Workplace Investigators Certified Investigator) certification.
• Experience in behavioral health, mental health, healthcare, social services, or a highly regulated direct-care environment.
• Experience with CA PAGA claims, class action ER exposure, or multi-plaintiff agency charges.
• Bilingual Spanish/English preferred.
• Experience with mandatory reporting obligations for child abuse, elder abuse, or dependent adult abuse in any state.

Compensation & Benefits

Full-time Employees: Paid vacation days (increase with tenure) Separate sick leave that rolls over annually Up to 10 paid holidays (varies by region) Medical, dental, and vision insurance options HSA & FSA options 401(k) with employer match DailyPay access your earnings without waiting for payday* Training, development, and continuing education opportunities All Employees: 401(k) Free licensure supervision Pet insurance Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Perks @ Clarvida national discounts on shopping, travel, Verizon, and entertainment Mileage reimbursement Cellphone stipend (*Benefits may vary by state or county) Work Model: Hybrid / Remote based on business need; priority for regular in-office presence where investigations, leader support, or higher-risk programs require it Travel: Up to 20% as needed, based on investigation volume, site support needs, training delivery, and higher-risk employee relations matters Employment Type Full-time, Exempt