- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,508
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
Sixteen city employees were fired as a result of reports to the city’s Fraud and Waste Hotline in 2013-14, said Ottawa Auditor General Ken Hughes.
Hughes and his team investigated more than 330 reports to the hotline over the past two years, he told the city’s audit committee in his report Monday morning. The most common complaint was the unauthorized use or misuse of the city’s property, information or time.
The hotline, now 10 years old, allows tipsters and whistleblowers to anonymously report wrongdoing by city employees. Among the complaints received were 15 cases of theft, 36 cases of the misuse or unauthorized use of city property or time, and four cases of conflict of interest or unethical conduct.
In 2014, more than three-quarters of the complaints came from the public. Hughes noted that the city has 17,000 employees — the equivalent of a small village — so it’s unrealistic to expect that there would be never be any wrongdoing.
“This is a good news story,” Hughes said. “The content of the report are not good news. The activities that have happened are not good news. But the fact that the City of Ottawa has a Fraud and Waste Hotline (and) provides an annual report and publishes it … is evidence of continued accountability and transparency.”
Related
The report includes only the sparsest details of the wrongdoing — no individuals or even the departments affected are identified — in order to protect the confidentiality of the tipsters, Hughes said.
Some examples of thefts that were investigated include an employee fired for submitting $2,700 in bogus claims to the city’s insurance company, two employees fired for stealing recyclable material, an employee fired for stealing city park property and one worker who was fired for stealing money from coworkers and also misusing a city-issued BlackBerry.
In one case investigated by the auditor’s office, police were able to recover $3,000 in stolen city audio equipment.
Misuse or inappropriate use of city property, equipment or time covered a wide range of malfeasance, including three people fired for “inappropriately using a City facility after regular business hours ” and three employes with chronic absenteeism who were fired for abusing sick leave. Three more were found to be calling in sick then going to work for another employee. They got the sack, too.
Others received discipline — including suspensions — for using the Internet at work for personal reasons, conducting personal business on city time, or misrepresenting time worked on their time sheets.
Four cases of conflict of interest or ethical lapses were also found, including an employee who failed to disclose a family relationship with someone they reported to directly, and another who told his or her manager of a conflict of interest but then continued to have an involvement in the matter.
One employee was sent for equity and diversity training as a result of “an inappropriate remark.”
In one case, a person couldn’t pay a parking ticket on time because the “deputized private property organization” that issued the ticket hadn’t registered it with the city. That led to a change in policy that puts a time limit on privately issued tickets are registered with he city.
The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and covers the activities of city employees, but not city councillors and their staff, the Ottawa Police Service, the Ottawa Public Library or Ottawa Community Housing Corporation.
A copy of the auditor’s report is available online at www.ottawa.ca
查看原文...
Hughes and his team investigated more than 330 reports to the hotline over the past two years, he told the city’s audit committee in his report Monday morning. The most common complaint was the unauthorized use or misuse of the city’s property, information or time.
The hotline, now 10 years old, allows tipsters and whistleblowers to anonymously report wrongdoing by city employees. Among the complaints received were 15 cases of theft, 36 cases of the misuse or unauthorized use of city property or time, and four cases of conflict of interest or unethical conduct.
In 2014, more than three-quarters of the complaints came from the public. Hughes noted that the city has 17,000 employees — the equivalent of a small village — so it’s unrealistic to expect that there would be never be any wrongdoing.
“This is a good news story,” Hughes said. “The content of the report are not good news. The activities that have happened are not good news. But the fact that the City of Ottawa has a Fraud and Waste Hotline (and) provides an annual report and publishes it … is evidence of continued accountability and transparency.”
Related
The report includes only the sparsest details of the wrongdoing — no individuals or even the departments affected are identified — in order to protect the confidentiality of the tipsters, Hughes said.
Some examples of thefts that were investigated include an employee fired for submitting $2,700 in bogus claims to the city’s insurance company, two employees fired for stealing recyclable material, an employee fired for stealing city park property and one worker who was fired for stealing money from coworkers and also misusing a city-issued BlackBerry.
In one case investigated by the auditor’s office, police were able to recover $3,000 in stolen city audio equipment.
Misuse or inappropriate use of city property, equipment or time covered a wide range of malfeasance, including three people fired for “inappropriately using a City facility after regular business hours ” and three employes with chronic absenteeism who were fired for abusing sick leave. Three more were found to be calling in sick then going to work for another employee. They got the sack, too.
Others received discipline — including suspensions — for using the Internet at work for personal reasons, conducting personal business on city time, or misrepresenting time worked on their time sheets.
Four cases of conflict of interest or ethical lapses were also found, including an employee who failed to disclose a family relationship with someone they reported to directly, and another who told his or her manager of a conflict of interest but then continued to have an involvement in the matter.
One employee was sent for equity and diversity training as a result of “an inappropriate remark.”
In one case, a person couldn’t pay a parking ticket on time because the “deputized private property organization” that issued the ticket hadn’t registered it with the city. That led to a change in policy that puts a time limit on privately issued tickets are registered with he city.
The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and covers the activities of city employees, but not city councillors and their staff, the Ottawa Police Service, the Ottawa Public Library or Ottawa Community Housing Corporation.
A copy of the auditor’s report is available online at www.ottawa.ca
查看原文...
