Three city workers fired on the advice of the Ottawa Fraud and Waste Management Hotline

OTTAWA - Three city of Ottawa employees were laid off last year after receiving a tip on the city's fraud and litter hotline, one of whom took more than six weeks on vacation without saving.

Meanwhile, two workers have been suspended without pay for washing their private vehicles on the city's property.

The hotline was set up in 2005 to facilitate reporting of suspected fraud or waste by city workers. It is managed independently by a third party, WhistleBlower Security.

A report by the Audit Committee shows that there were 204 hotline councils in 2020, including 114 from city officials and 90 from the public.

Three employees were laid off after receiving requests for proposals received by the hotline last year.

According to the report, a worker was fired after an investigation found a worker took 32 days of annual vacation without registering absences in the city's human resources system.

"Au cours des années précédentes, Guard abouti a paiement à l'employé car the solde de ses congés de fin d'année dépassait the report maximum authorization. L'employé a été licencé et 7,800 $ ont été récupérés" state the report .

Staff said another staff member was fired after an investigation found the person was working for another organization while applying for a sick leave from the city.

A third employee was fired during his probationary period when employees said the person was doing duties for their private company during city hours.

According to the report, three other employees were suspended without pay after an investigation.

Of the 204 tips on the fraud and garbage hotline in 2020, 189 investigations are considered completed. According to the report, 21 cases were found to be inaccurate, there were 47 panels with insufficient information to move forward, and 61 cases were outside the scope of the Auditor General.

Fifty-six percent of the reports were from city officials. The remaining 44% came from the public.

Some other inquiries over the hotline are:

• Two employees were suspended without payment for washing their personal vehicles on the city property. Employees claim that both employees refused to wash their personal vehicles with city goods during overtime, but management checked the CCTV footage and confirmed the claim.
• The employee received a verbal warning after using the city pressure washer to clean the personal vehicle
• One employee went to his personal apartment for lunch.
• An employee received a verbal warning after posting on his social media account that employees should have their face masks pierced during work hours. The employee was also reminded of mask training and recent bulletins on how to wear masks.
• A letter on hold on an employee's personnel file after confirming they are making personal purchases using a city vehicle during business hours.

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