VIII. Ethics Hotline – A Critical View

IX. Ethics Hotline – A Supportive View

“Hello, ethics hotline?” “Please listen to the menu choices because they have changed.” “Press one if you have an ethical dilemma, press two if you have an ethical crisis, press three if you have an ethical question”. When faced with ethics questions, this is what you do not need. The purpose of this paper is to classify the ethics hotline, identify who uses it and why, explain how hotlines handle ethical questions and offer opposing views about its usefulness.

Companies & agencies are always concerned about ethics or code of conduct. For example under the US Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the minimum requirements for an ethics compliance program are

Some organizations hire external consultants like Expolink to deal with ethics reports. Expolink believes that callers need the reassurance of total anonymity that only an independent can provide. While the service is anonymous, Expolink uses a mechanism, to track requestors if needed.

Despite impressive statistics across most professions, the hotline is not perfect. Mark Pastin, conducted A Study of Organizational Factors and Their Effect on Compliance. In his study, 69% of respondents reported that ethics hotlines were “defensive or not effective”

Ethics hotlines receive a full range of calls from true legal dilemmas to benign customer complaints. The purpose of an ethics hotline is to provide employees with a vehicle to express their concerns regarding ethical transgressions they may have observed . In the same way organizations need to communicate their ethic culture, top management must also define the appropriate usage of the ethics hotline. No list is all-inclusive but the following are general guidelines for likely hotline content.

Honeywell does such a great job maintaining privacy that the number of callers requesting anonymity declined the past two years . The ease of use and anonymity might also discourage would-be violators because the chance of getting caught or reported is more likely if a firm has a hotline in place. Should companies be concerned if their hotline is receiving more calls? No, the increase may mean the company has an open work environment where workers feel more comfortable seeking ethical guidance.

Some hotlines do offer ethical advice. It is not unusual for the requestor to disagree with the operator’s advice. If a requestor disagrees with the Florida bar hotline answer, that lawyer can request a written response. If there are still doubts, the member can appeal to the Professional Ethics Committee, which can affirm, reject, or adopt the staff opinion or issue their own proposed advisory opinion . The ethics operator always has the option to offer no opinion. Staff must decline to render an opinion when an inquirer asks a question about past conduct, a question about another attorney's conduct, or a question about the subject of a pending grievance3.

In the corporate environment, certain professions (namely law, engineering, science and journalism, to name a few) are known for their ethics (good and bad). These vocations are bound by their respective codes of ethics, but use of ethics hotlines is not limited to professionals. Businesses of all types (from the Dept of Defense to Millie’s Gas Stop) use ethics hotlines for employees to report suspected misconduct. The problem is the perception of ‘misconduct’ varies among individuals. Hotline personnel make their own ethical decision to screen certain calls. Typical reasons people call an ethics hotline are to ask about ethical issues, to request advice for a course of action or to report misconduct. Some callers want to "cover" themselves and others just want peer support.

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