Whistleblower Hotline

Purpose

The City of San José takes pride in its employees and the high-quality services we provide to the community. In order to ensure that we maintain and improve upon the quality and integrity of our services, the City of San José created the Whistleblower Hotline to provide the public and employees with an opportunity to express concerns.

The Whistleblower Hotline responds to specific allegations of administrative wrongdoing by City employees and those who do business with the City. The Whistleblower Hotline does not investigate general complaints or suggestions, nor is the Whistleblower Hotline able to investigate allegations pertaining to other employers that operate within San José.

Examples of what the Whistleblower Hotline can investigate include the following:

Misuse of City Funds: Using City funds for an unauthorized purpose.
Improper Activities by City Employees: Any action a City employee takes in the performance of their official duties that violates any law, regulation, or policy.
Quality and Delivery of Government Services: A fault, shortcoming, or inadequacy in the performance of a service, or the failure to perform a service.
Wasteful and Inefficient Government Practices: Practices that result in the unnecessary expenditure of City funds due to poor management decisions, practices, or controls.

Report a Concern

Those looking to raise a concern may do so anonymously; however, complaints raised by anonymous parties can be more difficult to investigate because there is no way to contact the anonymous party for more information.

Anyone who raises a concern anonymously is encouraged to provide as much information as possible regarding their concerns, particularly if leaving a voicemail, writing a letter, or completing the online form as we will not have any means of communicating with you if you make an anonymous complaint through one of those methods.

For anonymous complaints, please consider creating a free, anonymous email address so that we may follow up with you if we have any questions regarding your concerns. Alternatively, please call the Whistleblower Hotline at (408) 535-8200 during normal business hours within 1-2 weeks of raising your concern. This will allow staff to ask follow-up questions of the reporting party to better understand their concerns without compromising the anonymity of the reporting party.

Concerns may be reported by any of the following methods:

By email at: hotline@sanjoseca.gov	The most efficient way to report a concern and communicate with the Whistleblower Hotline is to send an email. Email offers a simple way for a reporting party to share documents, images, video, etc. with the Whistleblower Hotline. Reporting parties who wish to remain anonymous are encouraged to create a free email address to be used for this purpose. We also encourage you to check for replies from the Whistleblower Hotline in the event additional information is needed to better investigate the concern.
By telephone at: (408) 535-8200	This telephone line does not have caller ID and allows the reporting party to maintain anonymity.
By online form	This form offers a simple way for a reporting party to upload documents, images, video, etc. to the Whistleblower Hotline.
By mail to: Whistleblower Hotline 200 East Santa Clara Street, Wing 3rd Floor San Jose, CA 95113
In person at: Whistleblower Hotline 200 East Santa Clara Street, Wing 3rd Floor San Jose, CA 95113	To preserve anonymity, reporting parties can pass a written complaint and any supporting documentation under the door to the Office of Employee Relations.
By fax at: (408) 292-6436