OLA Fraud Hotline
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens after the Office of Legislative Audits receives an allegation?
Will OLA keep me advised of the status of my allegation?
What happens after the Office of Legislative Audits receives an allegation?
All allegations are screened and prioritized based on risk, significance, internal OLA resources, and other factors. Consequently, no action may be taken on a hotline allegation that, even if true, appears immaterial or insignificant from a monetary or operational standpoint, or the allegation may be referred by OLA to the State agency involved in the allegation for its investigation or consideration of future changes in policy or procedure. For example a number of State agencies operate independent fraud hotlines and have trained personnel on staff to investigate fraud, waste, and abuse allegations related to their operations. When allegations are referred to the involved State agency, OLA does not disclose the identity of the individual submitting the allegation to OLA.
Even if OLA does not pursue a specific allegation or make a subsequent referral to another State agency, it reserves the right to forward the information contained in the allegation to its auditors for their consideration of the subject matter when conducting a current audit or the next audit of the agency involved in the allegation.
Will OLA keep me advised of the status of my allegation?
If you provide contact information on the referral form, OLA may use that to contact you to obtain additional information on the nature of the reported allegation. OLA’s governing statutes (State Government Article, §2-1226) prohibits OLA staff from disclosing any information obtained during the course of an examination, including hotline investigations, to any individual other than another OLA employee or an authorized representative of OLA.
Are State employees who submit allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse to the OLA Fraud Hotline protected under the Maryland Whistleblower law?
The Maryland Whistleblower Law in the Executive Branch of State Government can be found in the State Personnel and Pensions Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, §3-501 to §3-514. The applicability of the various provisions of that law to an individual submitting an allegation to OLA is a matter for legal interpretation. Consequently, OLA cannot offer legal advice or assurances of that law’s applicability to individuals making referrals or the specific allegations referred to its fraud hotline.