Information provided to the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline Program should be made in good faith. The Hotline should be used to report fraud, waste, or abuse.

Hotline reports that are not under the categories of fraud, waste, or abuse will be forwarded to the appropriate administrator for follow-up. This administrator will determine whether any further action is warranted.

Your call or online report can be confidential or anonymous. However, we encourage individuals to provide contact information because this allows the administrator, who is assigned the report, to follow up with the individual making the report with questions or to seek clarification when more information is needed. As a reminder, Board Policy CAA (Local) states, “Neither the Board nor any District employee shall unlawfully retaliate against a person who in good faith reports perceived fraud or financial impropriety.”

If you make an anonymous report, you will be given an incident report number and encouraged to log into the system or call back in case additional information is needed.

A thorough investigation cannot be conducted if the individual making an anonymous report does not provide enough detail or does not respond to follow-up questions posted through the system. The District would then be forced to do the best we can with limited information, which means the alleged fraud, waste, or abuse may not be proven and the issue left unresolved. 

 As such, the more details you can tell us, the better chance we have of determining whether fraud, waste, or abuse has occurred. When you make a report, you will be asked to provide information about the specific allegation, the parties involved (reported individual(s), individual(s) involved, and names of others who are aware), and other information about the suspected/known wrongdoing including:

• What occurred?
• How do you know about the incident?
• When did the incident occur?
• Where did the incident occur?
• What documentation/evidence is available?
• Other relevant information.

Call 1-800-620-8591 or visit the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline and follow the directions to make a Hotline report. English/Spanish is available.

Navex (the vendor/provider for the Hotline) emails all reports to the Internal Audit Department. All information provided through the Hotline report will go through a screening process to determine whether the report is complete and includes sufficient information to determine if there is a violation of EPISD policy or state/federal law, should the allegation(s) be true. In addition, Internal Audit or administration may conduct a preliminary analysis to determine whether an investigation is needed and what steps, if any, are required to respond in an appropriate manner.

 Not every Hotline report will result in an investigation. If the preliminary analysis fails to confirm that an incident may have occurred or that there is no reasonable basis for the conduct alleged in the report, there may be no basis for an investigation. An investigation may not be initiated if:

• Sufficient information was not provided
• The Hotline report allegation is a misunderstanding of EPISD policy
• The report relates to a lack of communication between the reporter and another person
• The substance of the report can be resolved informally, such as a request for assistance rather than an allegation of misconduct

 When appropriate, reports will be forwarded to principals or other administrators for resolution. However, the Internal Audit Department tracks all Hotline reports from receipt through resolution.

 If an investigation is undertaken and if the allegation is substantiated, corrective action will be required to rectify the cause or control weaknesses that allowed the situation to occur. All employees involved in an investigation shall be advised to keep information about the investigation confidential. In most cases, the person initiating the report may not be provided with the details, but rather only the outcome of the investigation (whether the alleged fraud, waste, or abuse was substantiated or not substantiated).

 If an investigation substantiates that fraud has occurred, the Board can be notified as required by Board Policy CAA (Local). When circumstances warrant, the Superintendent and/or his/her designee, in conjunction with legal counsel, determine whether to refer the investigation results to the appropriate law enforcement agency and/or regulatory agency.