Raising Employee Awareness of
How to Report Misconduct

Internal Revenue Service employees must not only observe specific rules of conduct for themselves, they must also report any information they get on misconduct, corruption, fraud, waste or abuse committed by other employees. To assist them in fulfilling this obligation, the IRS Inspection Service offers both local and toll-free phone numbers for employees to report allegations.

To make employees aware of channels for reporting misconduct, Inspection has long used traditional internal publicity methods, such as:

• newsletter items;
• memos;
• posters;
• brochures;
• wallet cards; and
• reminder messages on pay statements.

During fiscal years 1996 and 1997, Inspection gave almost 1900 presentations on integrity awareness to IRS employees nationwide.

In September 1997, Inspection added its own homepage to the IRS Intranet, giving employees nationwide ready computer access to a directory of local Inspection offices. It also provides toll-free numbers for the Inspection Hotline, Treasury’s Inspector General, and the Office of Special Counsel, as well as explanations of which office is appropriate to contact under various circumstances. There is even a link to the Special Counsel’s Website, where employees can get more information about protection for "whistleblowers" and how to report allegations of retaliation.

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