Whistleblower Complaints

Section 4-61dd of the Connecticut General Statutes is known as the Whistleblower Act. Any person may file a whistleblower complaint with the Auditors of Public Accounts (APA) on any matter involving corruption, unethical practices, violations of state laws or regulations, mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or danger to public safety occurring in any state department, agency, quasi-public agency, or large state contractor holding contract of more than five million dollars.

It is important that the complainant provide specific information, which enables the APA to properly review the complaint. The complainant should submit sufficient evidence, such as identifying particular witnesses, documents, and other sources of information that our office can examine to substantiate the allegation.

The APA accepts complaints that are submitted anonymously; however, if the complainant is unavailable to answer questions or confirm the alleged facts, our office may be unable to proceed with an investigation.

What the Auditors of Public Accounts (APA) Investigates

APA Will Investigate:

Allegations of corruption, unethical practices, violation of state or federal law or regulation, mismanagement, gross waste of public funds, abuse of authority or danger to the public safety.

APA Will Not Investigate:

Allegations involving the federal government, units of local government, or nongovernment entities that do not have a contract or grant with a state agency.

The APA does not automatically review every complaint. Each complaint is carefully evaluated to determine whether it merits further investigation or whether it should be rejected.

Filing a Complaint

You may file a complaint with our office by:

• Using our online form,
• Calling (959) 710-5605 or toll free at (800) 797-1702,
• Emailing wbcomplaints@ctauditors.gov, or
• Writing to:
  • Auditors of Public Accounts 165 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106 Attention: Maura Pardo, Administrative Auditor

Criteria for Rejecting Complaints

Our office does not automatically conduct a full review of every whistleblower complaint. Each complaint is carefully evaluated to determine whether it has merit to conduct a further review or whether it would be better handled in another way. Since October 1, 2011, Section 4-61dd (b) of the General Statutes authorizes our office to reject any complaint received or refer it to a more appropriate agency if we determine one or more of the following criteria has been met:

1. There are other available remedies that the complainant can reasonably be expected to pursue;
2. The complaint is better suited for investigation or enforcement by another state agency;
3. The complaint is trivial, frivolous, vexatious, or not made in good faith;
4. Other complaints have greater priority in terms of serving the public good;
5. The complaint is not timely or is too long delayed to justify further investigation; or
6. The complaint could be handled more appropriately as part of an ongoing or scheduled regular audit.

If our office determines that a complaint would be more appropriately investigated by another state agency, we will refer it to that agency and request a status report on its resolution of the referred complaint.

Our office reports our review of every complaint (including rejected complaints and referrals) to the Attorney General. We inform the Attorney General of the basis for our decision.

Retaliation

The whistleblower law prevents retaliation against any employee of a state agency, quasi-public agency, or large state contractor who has filed a whistleblower complaint. Retaliation would include taking or threatening to take any personnel action against the employee for disclosure of information to the Auditors of Public Accounts, the Attorney General, or the employer.

In no case should a state or quasi-public employee submit a whistleblower retaliation complaint to the Auditors of Public Accounts. The employee may file a retaliation complaint with the Chief Human Rights Referee of the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO). For additional information on this process, please visit CHRO Whistleblower Retaliation Complaints.

As an alternative to filing a whistleblower retaliation claim with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, the employee may file an appeal with the Employees’ Review Board; or, in the case of a state or quasi-public employee covered by a collective bargaining contract, in accordance with the procedure provided by such contract; or an employee of a large state contractor alleging that such action has been threatened or taken may, after exhausting all available administrative remedies, bring a civil action.