Reporting Suspected Legal, Regulatory or Policy Violations
Scope
This policy applies to the following MSU campuses:
- MSU-Billings
- MSU at Bozeman
- Great Falls College MSU
- MSU-Northern
100.00 Introduction and Purpose
Montana State University encourages all faculty, staff, students, and volunteers, acting in good faith, to report suspected legal, regulatory or policy violations. The university is committed to protecting individuals from retaliation for making a good faith report. A good faith report means an allegation made with the honest belief that legal, regulatory or policy violations may have occurred. A false allegation is a report that is made with reckless disregard for or willful ignorance of facts that would disprove the allegation.
This policy is intended to protect any individual who reports suspected legal, regulatory or policy violations in good faith to a designated university official or through appropriate electronic reporting structures (e.g., MSU Compliance Hotline; State of Montana Fraud, Waste and Abuse Hotline).
This policy:
- Encourages individuals to report suspected legal, regulatory or policy violations engaged in by others to the appropriate university official so that prompt, corrective action can be taken by the university,
- Informs individuals how allegations of wrongful conduct can be disclosed,
- Protects individuals from reprisal by adverse employment action or other retaliation as a result of having reported suspected legal, regulatory or policy violations (individuals who self report their own misconduct are not afforded protection by this policy).
200.00 Policy
200.10 Acting in good faith. Anyone reporting suspected legal, regulatory or policy violations must be acting in good faith and have reasonable grounds for believing the information disclosed indicates a violation of law, regulation or policy.
200.20 Anonymous reports. Anonymous reports must provide sufficient corroborating evidence to justify the commencement of a review. A review of unspecified wrongdoing or broad allegations may not be undertaken without verifiable evidentiary support. Since reviewers are unable to interview anonymous reporters, it may be more difficult to evaluate the credibility of the allegations and therefore, less likely to cause a review to be initiated.
The university may not take action on anonymous reports of research misconduct.
200.30 Retaliation. No individual who reports suspected legal, regulatory or policy violations in good faith will suffer harassment, retaliation, or adverse employment consequences because they made the report. Any person who retaliates against any individuals because they made a report may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
200.40 False allegation. Any employee or volunteer who knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth gives false information or knowingly makes a false report of wrongful conduct or a subsequent false report of retaliation may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination. Any student who makes false allegations in the non-employment setting will be subject to charges under the student conduct code. Allegations that are not substantiated yet are made in good faith are not subject to corrective action.
200.50 Confidentiality. Reports may be made on a confidential basis by the complainant or may be submitted anonymously through the university’s reporting line. Reports and review records will be kept confidential to the extent possible, consistent with the need to conduct an adequate review, and in accordance with Montana law.
200.60 Legitimate employment decisions. Nothing in this policy is intended to interfere with legitimate employment decisions unrelated to the employee’s submission of a good faith report.
300.00 Procedures
300.10 Reporting Legal, Regulatory and Policy Violations. Individuals should share their questions, concerns, suggestions, or complaints with a university administrator who can address them properly. In many cases the individual’s supervisor is in the best position to address an area of concern. If an individual is not comfortable speaking with the supervisor, or is not satisfied with the supervisor’s response, individuals should take their concerns to the offices listed below that will review and/or address the concern as appropriate.
Type of Violation
|
MSU at Bozeman*
|
MSU-Billings
|
MSU-Northern
|
Great Falls College MSU
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Academic matters |
Office of the Provost |
Office of the Provost |
Office of the Provost |
Chief Academic Officer |
Non-academic student conduct matters |
Office of the Dean of Students |
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs |
Office of the Dean of Students |
Chief Student Affairs Officer |
Accounting and financial |
Office of Audit Services |
Office of Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services |
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance |
Director of Operations |
Athletics |
Senior Associate AD for Compliance |
Office of the Athletic Director |
Office of the Athletic Director |
N/A |
Discrimination or harassment |
Office of Institutional Equity |
Office of Human Resources |
Office of Human Resources |
Chief Human Resources Officer |
Health and safety |
Safety and Risk Management |
Risk Manager and Safety Coordinator |
Office of Human Resources |
Director of Operations |
Human resources |
Office of Human Resources |
Office of Human Resources |
Office of Human Resources |
Chief Human Resources Officer |
Information security and technology |
Information Security Group |
Chief Information Officer |
Information Technology Services |
Chief Technology Officer |
Research |
Office of Research Compliance |
Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs |
Office of the Provost |
N/A |
*Including MSU Extension, Montana Agricultural Experiment Station and Fire Services Training School. |
300.20 MSU Compliance Hotline. An alternative method to report concerns specific to the following areas is to contact the MSU Compliance Hotline at www.msucompliancehotline.ethicspoint.com:
- Accounting and financial
- Athletics
- Discrimination or harassment
- Health and safety
- Human Resources
- Information security and technology
- Research.
The MSU compliance hotline is not to be used for reporting the following:
- Academic matters
- Non-academic student conduct matters.
300.30 Reporting retaliation. Individuals who believe they have been subject to retaliation for reporting suspected legal, regulatory or policy violations should contact their campus human resources office.
400.00 Resources
400.10 How to report fraud, waste or abuse to the State of Montana’s Legislative Auditor. https://leg.mt.gov/lad/fraud-hotline/
500.00 References
500.10 Fiscal Misconduct Policy. https://www.montana.edu/policy/fiscal_misconduct/
600.00 Definitions
University Refers to any and all campuses, agencies, departments, or entities within the Montana State University sub-system.