Section 4113.52 | Reporting violations by state and local officials and employees.

(A)(1)(a) All state officials and employees employed by or appointed to a state agency as defined in division (D) of section 121.41 of the Revised Code shall report alleged fraud, theft in office, or the misuse or misappropriation of public money by a state official or employee to the inspector general. All other state employees and elected officials shall report fraud, theft in office, or the misuse or misappropriation of public money to the auditor of state's fraud-reporting system under section 117.103 of the Revised Code.

(b) A person is required to make a report under division (A)(1)(c) of this section if the person meets any of the following:

(i) The person is elected to local public office.

(ii) The person is appointed to or within a local public office.

(iii) The person has a fiduciary duty to a local public office.

(iv) The person holds a supervisory position within a local public office.

(v) The person is employed in the department or office responsible for processing any revenue or expenses of the local public office.

(c) If a person identified in division (A)(1)(b) of this section, during the person's term of office or in the course of the person's employment, becomes aware of fraud, theft in office, or the misuse or misappropriation of public money, the person shall timely notify the auditor of state via the auditor of state's fraud-reporting system under section 117.103 of the Revised Code or via other means.

(d) A person who serves as legal counsel, or who is employed as legal counsel, for a local public office or a state official or employee employed by or appointed to a state agency is not required to make a report under division (A)(1)(a) or (c) of this section concerning any communication received from a client in an attorney-client relationship.

(e) Divisions (A)(1)(a), (b), and (c) of this section do not apply to a prosecuting attorney, director of law, village solicitor, or similar chief legal officer of a municipal corporation, or to any employee of the prosecuting attorney, director of law, village solicitor, or similar chief legal officer of a municipal corporation.

(f) If a person becomes aware in the course of the person's employment of a violation of any state or federal statute or any ordinance or regulation of a political subdivision that the person's employer has authority to correct, and the person reasonably believes that the violation is a criminal offense that is likely to cause an imminent risk of physical harm to persons or a hazard to public health or safety, a felony, or an improper solicitation for a contribution, the person orally shall notify the person's supervisor or other responsible officer of the person's employer of the violation and subsequently shall file with that supervisor or officer a written report that provides sufficient detail to identify and describe the violation. If the employer does not correct the violation or make a reasonable and good faith effort to correct the violation within twenty-four hours after the oral notification or the receipt of the report, whichever is earlier, the person may file a written report that provides sufficient detail to identify and describe the violation with the prosecuting authority of the county or municipal corporation where the violation occurred, with a peace officer, with the inspector general if the violation is within the inspector general's jurisdiction, with the auditor of state's fraud-reporting system under section 117.103 of the Revised Code if applicable, or with any other appropriate public official or agency that has regulatory authority over the employer and the industry, trade, or business in which the employer is engaged.

(g) If a person makes a report under division (A)(1)(f) of this section, the employer, within twenty-four hours after the oral notification was made or the report was received or by the close of business on the next regular business day following the day on which the oral notification was made or the report was received, whichever is later, shall notify the person, in writing, of any effort of the employer to correct the alleged violation or hazard or of the absence of the alleged violation or hazard.

(2) If a person becomes aware in the course of the person's employment of a violation of Chapter 3704., 3734., 6109., or 6111. of the Revised Code that is a criminal offense, the person directly may notify, either orally or in writing, any appropriate public official or agency that has regulatory authority over the employer and the industry, trade, or business in which the employer is engaged.

(3) If a person becomes aware in the course of the person's employment of a violation by a fellow employee of any state or federal statute, any ordinance or regulation of a political subdivision, or any work rule or company policy of the person's employer and the person reasonably believes that the violation is a criminal offense that is likely to cause an imminent risk of physical harm to persons or a hazard to public health or safety, a felony, or an improper solicitation for a contribution, the person orally shall notify the person's supervisor or other responsible officer of the person's employer of the violation and subsequently shall file with that supervisor or officer a written report that provides sufficient detail to identify and describe the violation.

(4) The reporting requirements under division (A) of this section are not intended to infringe, and should not be interpreted as infringing on, the constitutional right against self-incrimination.

(B) Except as otherwise provided in division (C) of this section, no employer shall take any disciplinary or retaliatory action against an person for making any report authorized by division (A)(1) or (2) of this section, or as a result of the person's having made any inquiry or taken any other action to ensure the accuracy of any information reported under either such division. No employer shall take any disciplinary or retaliatory action against a person for making any report authorized by division (A)(3) of this section if the person made a reasonable and good faith effort to determine the accuracy of any information so reported, or as a result of the person's having made any inquiry or taken any other action to ensure the accuracy of any information reported under that division. For purposes of this division, disciplinary or retaliatory action by the employer includes, without limitation, doing any of the following:

(1) Removing or suspending the person from employment;

(2) Withholding from the person salary increases or employee benefits to which the person is otherwise entitled;

(3) Transferring or reassigning the person;

(4) Denying the person a promotion that otherwise would have been received;

(5) Reducing the person in pay or position.

(C) A person shall make a reasonable and good faith effort to determine the accuracy of any information reported under division (A)(1) or (2) of this section. If the person who makes a report under either division fails to make such an effort, the person may be subject to disciplinary action by the person's employer, including suspension or removal, for reporting information without a reasonable basis to do so under division (A)(1) or (2) of this section.

(D) If an employer takes any disciplinary or retaliatory action against an person as a result of the person's having filed a report under division (A) of this section, the person may bring a civil action for appropriate injunctive relief or for the remedies set forth in division (E) of this section, or both, within one hundred eighty days after the date the disciplinary or retaliatory action was taken, in a court of common pleas in accordance with the Rules of Civil Procedure. A civil action under this division is not available to a person as a remedy for any disciplinary or retaliatory action taken by an appointing authority against the person as a result of the person's having filed a report under division (A) of section 124.341 of the Revised Code.

(E) The court, in rendering a judgment for the person in an action brought pursuant to division (D) of this section, may order, as it determines appropriate, reinstatement of the person to the same position that the person held at the time of the disciplinary or retaliatory action and at the same site of employment or to a comparable position at that site, the payment of back wages, full reinstatement of fringe benefits and seniority rights, or any combination of these remedies. The court also may award the prevailing party all or a portion of the costs of litigation and, if the person who brought the action prevails in the action, may award the prevailing person reasonable attorney's fees, witness fees, and fees for experts who testify at trial, in an amount the court determines appropriate. If the court determines that an employer deliberately has violated division (B) of this section, the court, in making an award of back pay, may include interest at the rate specified in section 1343.03 of the Revised Code.

(F) Any report filed with the inspector general under this section shall be filed as a complaint in accordance with section 121.46 of the Revised Code.

(G) As used in this section:

(1) "Contribution" has the same meaning as in section 3517.01 of the Revised Code.

(2) "Improper solicitation for a contribution" means a solicitation for a contribution that satisfies all of the following:

(a) The solicitation violates division (B), (C), or (D) of section 3517.092 of the Revised Code;

(b) The solicitation is made in person by a public official or by an employee who has a supervisory role within the public office;

(c) The public official or employee knowingly made the solicitation, and the solicitation violates division (B), (C), or (D) of section 3517.092 of the Revised Code;

(d) The employee reporting the solicitation is an employee of the same public office as the public official or the employee with the supervisory role who is making the solicitation.

(3) "Misappropriation of public money" means knowingly using public money or public property for an unauthorized, improper, or unlawful purpose to serve a private or personal benefit or interest.

(4) "Misuse of public money" means knowingly using public money or public property in a manner not authorized by law.

(5) "Public office" has the same meaning as in section 117.01 of the Revised Code.

(H) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of an auditor to make inquiries or interview state or local government employees or officials or otherwise perform audit procedures related to fraud during the course of an audit or attestation engagement.