General Information Archives | Page 4 of 5 | Alberta’s Public Interest Commissioner

Advice for managing complaints under the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act (PIDA) relating to the COVID-19 public health emergency

General InformationBy Communications March 30, 2020

A public health emergency was declared on March 17, 2020, as a result of pandemic COVID-19. Designated officers may receive complaints relating to the public health emergency which may fit into a category of “wrongdoing” under PIDA; however, the complaint reporting and investigation process under PIDA was not intended to be a mechanism for reporting…

Notice of Temporary Closure

General InformationBy Communications March 16, 2020

Effective immediately, the Public Interest Commissioner has made the decision to close her Edmonton office and support prevention of the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). The health and well-being of our staff and visitors to our office remains of primary importance to us. We are closely monitoring this rapidly evolving situation to ensure our operational practices…

Informally Resolving Significant Matters in the Public Interest

General InformationBy Microtek October 29, 2019

Public interest investigations are typically large scale and involve substantial investigative work. They usually involve a significant amount of time and human resources both by the Commissioner’s office and the entity subject of the investigation. This can cause disruption to regular business, and can result in an unjustified negative public perception of an organization where…

A Brief Guide to Good Whistleblowing and Bad Faith

General InformationBy Microtek October 29, 2019

Whistleblowing: The Right Stuff Whistleblowing has been defined as a disclosure by an employee (current or former) of illegal, immoral or illegitimate wrongdoing within an organization.[1] A whistleblower under Alberta’s Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act (the Act) makes a disclosure of wrongdoing in good faith in relation to one of the five wrongdoings defined…

Severance Agreements – the Commissioner Recommends Improvement

General InformationBy Microtek October 29, 2019

Severance agreements are contracts sometimes used to reach an amicable conclusion to an individual’s employment with their employer. Usually a severance agreement provides extended compensation or benefits to the employee beyond the end of their employment, and in exchange, the employer receives a release whereby the employee agrees not to pursue any claims they have…

Independent investigations into ICORE-related activities at AER find conflict of interest, gross mismanagement of public funds, and critical oversight failures

General InformationBy Microtek October 4, 2019

October 4, 2019 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada … Separate investigations by three independent officers of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta into activities at the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and the International Centre of Regulatory Excellence (ICORE) found a conflict of interest by the former CEO of AER, gross mismanagement and waste of public resources, and critical…

Sharing a Common Goal

General InformationBy Communications March 8, 2019

The purpose of the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act (the Act) is to bring wrongdoing or cases of reprisal to the attention of a public sector organization so corrective measures can be taken. The Act allows for the reporting and investigation of wrongdoing to be conducted either internally by the designated officer, or by…

Defining Mismanagement of Employees

General InformationBy Communications March 8, 2019

Mismanagement of Employees Inappropriate workplace behavior such as bullying, harassment and intimidation adversely affects the wellbeing of individuals, and can have detrimental effects on overall employee morale and productivity. The Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act (the Act) has been amended so that as of March 1, 2018, the definition of wrongdoing now includes the gross mismanagement of employees through bullying,…

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