Getting Real About Ethics

Even just the word “ethics” can sound lofty and intimidating.

But if you think about it, ethical questions come up all the time, in forms both big and small. How often do we ask ourselves if we are doing the right thing? Or if others around us are?

March is Ethics Awareness Month, but questions like these can arise anytime: Is it OK to accept a gift at work, paid for by an outside vendor?

What about letting a vendor pay for a conference registration?

Cool for a co-worker to attend a charity event on work time? What if the event benefits the County?

We’ll get back to those specific questions in a moment, but the point is, sometimes we need help with the answers. That’s where the County comes in.

The first place employees can turn if they have a concern about possible unethical, illegal or unsafe activity is their department’s chain of command, said Joe Cordero, Director of the County’s Office of Ethics and Compliance (OEC), formerly the Office of Internal Affairs.

If an employee isn’t comfortable going to a supervisor or other manager, or if their concern relates to a supervisor or manager, they can call OEC or the County’s Ethics Hotline at (866) 549-0004. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is operated by a third party. So employees can report concerns anonymously. Employees can also report concerns online.

So far this fiscal year, the hotline has received about 30 calls. The County looks into issues raised in each one. Where necessary, departments have then taken preventative or corrective action on issues raised including alleged abuse of authority, hostile work environment and sexual harassment.

The reality is, ethical breaches can happen in any workplace.

“For a County this big, we don’t have a lot,” Cordero said. “But we have a few.”

And there’s a strong system in place to deal with them when they happen.

A recent example: a former employee is currently serving a three-year jail term after pleading guilty to grand theft. Perhaps you heard about it in the news. The employee, it turns out, stole printer ink cartridges worth a total of $360,000 over about a six-year period. The behavior was reported by another County employee through the chain of command, and from there action was taken.

Cordero emphasizes that he and his staff at the OEC are available as a resource to employees. They are available to answer questions--and they often do. In addition to conducting investigations when necessary, the department’s mission is to be accessible to employees when they need information or advice about the full range of concerns.

“We’re not here to teach employees to be ethical,” Cordero said. “That would be presumptuous. And we handle more than formal complaints. We’re here to serve as a resource for employees, to help them in making those ethical decisions.”

As for those other questions:

Is it OK to accept a gift at work, paid for by an outside vendor? It depends. In one recent example, a few County employees won iPads and Kindles in a raffle through the Department of Human Resources’ Employee Wellness Program. The prizes were paid for by the County’s health insurance carriers. But the employees weren’t in a position to select the carriers as vendors, so there wasn’t a conflict.

As far as letting a vendor pay for an employee’s registration at a professional conference, the answer is: it’s better to say no.

And finally, what about a co-worker attending a charity event on work time? What if the event benefits the County? The answer is not straight forward. It depends on the situation. Employees can talk to their supervisor and call the OEC for advice.