To: Board of Supervisors of the County of Sonoma, Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Water Agency, Board of Commissions of the Community Development Commission, and Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
Department or Agency Name(s): Human Resources Department
Staff Name and Phone Number: Janell Crane, 707-565-2885
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Workplace Investigation Service Agreements
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Authorize County Counsel and the Director of Human Resources to execute agreements with eleven firms specializing in workplace investigations for the contract period starting October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2029 for $450,000 per contract year per agreement (maximum not to exceed of $1,350,000 per contract over the initial term of the agreement), with two, one-year options to extend for $450,000 per contract year for a total contract period not to exceed five years, with the following firms: Buehler Trapani LLP, CPS HR Consulting, Ellis Investigations Law Corporation, Hanson Bridgett LLP, Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP, JL Group LLC, Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard, Oppenheimer Investigations Group LLP, Renne Public Law Group, Sloan Sakai Yeung & Wong LLP, and Van Dermyden Makus Law Corporation.
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Executive Summary:
The Department of Fair Employment and Housing (State) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Federal) require employers to conduct timely and thorough workplace investigations on situations involving potential discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and misconduct. The County Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Unit of the Human Resources Department typically conducts investigations internally with qualified staff. However, there are often circumstances that warrant the use of an external investigator to complete investigations. The County has master agreements with a pool of qualified investigation firms for many years which are due to expire on September 30, 2026. The requested Board action authorizes the County Counsel and the Director of Human Resources to execute new master agreements for workplace investigation services with eleven (11) individuals/firms, selected through a Request for Proposal process conducted in May 2026.
Discussion:
Employers are responsible for promptly and appropriately investigating matters that come up in the workplace, and in order for employers to take any legally defensible, corrective action in response to workplace conduct, the investigation and resulting report are essential to support the action. The County has had a longstanding practice of having master agreements with external investigation firms to ensure the County quickly responds to workplace matters that require an external investigator.
The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Unit of the Human Resources Department is responsible for providing consultation and support to County departments and agencies on employment-related matters. Typically, these consultations are in the areas of equal employment opportunity (harassment, discrimination, retaliation), hostile work environment, hiring and promotion practices, but could also include other areas affecting the employment relationship or which may place the County at risk. In some cases, presenting circumstances require the need to conduct an investigation.
The Human Resources EEO Unit will continue to conduct investigations. However, under some circumstances, investigations are assigned to an outside investigative firm. Reasons may include high risk of future litigation, large investigations which will require extensive time to complete due to a high number of witnesses and particularly complex situations, staff capacity, and the need to maintain the integrity of the investigation where the use of internal County personnel may pose a conflict of interest. Outside investigators are expected to be credible, thorough, impartial, and act as neutral fact finders. Departments may also have the need to conduct personnel investigations by utilizing an outside investigator. These requests are filtered through Human Resources and paid for out of the Department’s budget.
Human Resources conducted Request for Proposals in 2008, 2013, 2017, and 2022. The current agreements will expire on September 30, 2026.
To ensure the County continues to have sufficient resources to conduct timely and thorough investigations and to ensure the County receives services at the most competitive rates, Human Resources conducted a Request for Proposal in May 2026. The Request for Proposal was widely circulated to numerous employment investigative firms and was posted on the County’s purchasing portal/website. Twelve proposals were received, and a comprehensive evaluation was conducted involving representatives of Human Resources. The proposals were evaluated on the firm’s expertise in performing investigations and related work that may cover a broad range of issues, including but not limited to equal employment opportunity (EEO), discipline, and liability.
As a result of the selection process, Human Resources recommends the County execute agreements with eleven firms. The evaluation process identified these firms as being well-qualified and most appropriate to meet the needs of the County. The County has experience with all of these firms and is satisfied with services previously rendered. The firms are as follows: 1) Buehler Trapani LLP, 2) CPS HR Consulting, 3) Ellis Investigations Law Corporation, 4) Hanson Bridgett LLP, 5) Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP, 6) JL Group LLC , 7) Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard, 8) Oppenheimer Investigations Group LLP, 9) Renne Public Law Group, 10) Sloan Sakai Yeung & Wong LLP, and 11) Van Dermyden Makus Law Corporation. Departments will be required to contact Human Resources for advice regarding the use of employment investigative services and to receive authorization to utilize one of the selected firms.
These agreements are all fee for service contracts with no minimum amount of work guaranteed to the firm. Fees range from $215 to $625 per hour, depending upon the level of expertise, experience, and area of specialty. Implementation of these agreements will not change the County’s approach of conducting investigations internally, and does not preclude Human Resources or County departments from contracting with other employment investigative firms if needed in the future
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
• September 9, 2008 (Item 6) - Approved initial master service agreements with six (6) firms.
• September 27, 2011 (item 18) - Approved 2-year amendments to master services agreements with six (6) firms.
• November 5, 2013 (Item 23) - Approved agreements with fourteen (14) selected investigative firms.
• August 9, 2016 (item 19) - Approved amendments to increase contract maximum agreements with fourteen (14) selected investigative firms from $100,000 maximum per contract year to $175,000 maximum per contract year.
• September 12, 2017 (item 1) - Approved agreements with nine (9) selected investigative firms.
• September 27, 2022 (item 6) - Approved agreements with six (6) selected investigative firms - File Number 2022-0904 <https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5845677&GUID=6434C420-3330-4A7B-9F58-0548B93FF5A6&Options=&Search=>.
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY26-27 Adopted |
FY27-28 Projected |
FY28-29 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$650,000 |
$650,000 |
$650,000 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
$650,000 |
$650,000 |
$650,000 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
$650,000 |
$650,000 |
$650,000 |
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
General Fund Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$650,000 |
$650,000 |
$650,000 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
Cost for services requested by the Human Resources Department Equal Employment Opportunity Unit is administered within the Liability Internal Services Fund (ISF) with appropriations of $650,000 for approved investigations, and is included in the 2026-27 Budget within the fund. Separately, should departments request to utilize investigative services, the costs will be absorbed by their respective operational budgets outside of the Liability ISF.
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
1. Draft Agreement with Buehler Trapani LLP
2. Draft Agreement with CPS HR Consulting
3. Draft Agreement with Ellis Investigations Law Corporation
4. Draft Agreement with Hanson Bridgett LLP
5. Draft Agreement with Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP
6. Draft Agreement with JL Group LLC
7. Draft Agreement with Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard
8. Draft Agreement with Oppenheimer Investigations Group LLP
9. Draft Agreement with Renne Public Law Group
10. Draft Agreement with Sloan Sakai Yeung & Wong LLP
11. Draft Agreement with Van Dermyden Makus Law Corporation
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A