Saskatoon drafts 1st whistleblower policy for city employees

The City of Saskatoon has drafted what, if approved, could be the first whistleblower policy for city employees.

The proposed policy comes at the request of councillor Randy Donauer and could be in place by Sept. 1.

The policy calls for employees, who may remain anonymous, to report perceived and potential wrongdoings to the city manager.

Wrongdoings include fraud, theft and misuse of city assets.

"A person under investigation shall be given notice of the essential particulars of the report, and shall have an opportunity to respond before any decision on disciplinary or legal action is made," according to the draft policy.

Reprisals could be reprimanded too

The city manager would appoint a "designate" to oversee the investigation. The designate would then have 10 working days to acknowledge a worker's complaint.

In some cases, the city manager could ask a law enforcement agency or third party to conduct the investigation.

If the investigation turns up actual wrongdoing, the employee responsible could be fired or face other disciplinary action from the city.

People found to have threatened a whistleblower may face the same fate.

The city looked over policies in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, St. John's, Edmonton and Hamilton when drafting its own plan.

The draft policy is scheduled for discussion at city hall on Monday afternoon.