San Diego plans stronger protections for whistleblowers

San Diego city leaders say they want to strengthen the city’s protections for whistleblower employees, possibly by adopting anti-retaliation language similar to what San Francisco and Oakland use.

The language would go beyond whistleblower protections included in state law by specifying that employees can’t be demoted, terminated or suspended for reporting possible fraud, waste or other abuses of city resources.

The language would be added to the city’s municipal code, which now includes whistleblower protections only for people who report violations of the city’s Ethics Ordinance, file complaints to the Commission on Police Practices or take specific actions under the city’s Surveillance Ordinance.

Though the municipal code doesn’t yet protect all instances of whistleblowing, city officials say all whistleblowers are afforded protections anyway.

A fraud hotline operated by City Auditor Andy Hanau receives 200 to 300 whistleblower complaints per year. But City Attorney Mara Elliott said the city should give its 11,000 employees as many options as possible.

“Any person who wants to bring forward a concern has to use the mechanism that feels the most comfortable,” said Elliott, who is spearheading the effort. “We do have other mechanisms in place, but they don’t address every individual. If we don’t hear about the concerns, we can’t respond to them.”

The City Council’s Rules Committee voted unanimously last month to direct Elliott to write a proposed whistleblower ordinance. She said she would give the committee a few choices but suggested that San Francisco’s language was her favorite.

That city says retaliation is prohibited and that “no city officer or employee may terminate, demote, suspend or take other similar adverse employment action” against any employee for filing or attempting to file a complaint.

Elliott also is proposing a new hotline and website where whistleblowers could make complaints.

Elliott hasn’t specified who should run the new hotline and website, but she suggested it should be “an entity that is not directly or indirectly controlled by the City Council or mayor.”

That arguably would be in contrast to the auditor, who is appointed by the council, receives a salary set by the council and could be terminated by the council.

But the auditor frequently says that while his office is overseen by the council’s Audit Committee, neither that committee nor the full council directs the auditor’s work.

Hanau said he’s open to considering whatever Elliott proposes. He said his office has a strong track record running its whistleblower hotline since 2008.

“We are routinely consulted by other municipalities seeking to establish or strengthen their own whistleblower programs,” Hanau said. “While we would welcome any revisions to existing laws and codes to strengthen or clarify whistleblower protections, no specific proposal has been presented for our input.”

Councilman Kent Lee praised Elliott’s effort during a March 20 public hearing by the Rules Committee.

“This seems to be something that’s missing when it comes to our municipal code,” he said.

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Councilman Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, compared adding the extra avenue for whistleblower complaints to him regularly taking live questions at the La Jolla Open Aire Market because some constituents don’t feel comfortable emailing or calling in complaints.

“City staff should always feel comfortable to report instances where public resources may be misused or where there are operational inefficiencies,” he said.

Councilwoman Vivian Moreno said uncovering fraud and waste is so important that every effort must be made.

“While I do believe existing state law provides sufficient legal protection to whistleblowers, I agree with the city attorney that it’s worth doing anything we can to encourage whistleblowers to come forward and report wrongdoing,” she said.

— La Jolla Light staff contributed to this report. ◆