How does an ombudsman maintain confidentiality?
The Office is a safe place to discuss your concerns. An ombudsman will take no action on your complaint without your permission. Information provided to the ombudsman is kept secure and confidential and will be discussed with a third party only with the explicit permission of the staff member. An ombudsman is immune from any demand from any level of the organization to disclose any information or document regarding a staff member without the latter’s prior authorization. Working notes are kept by an ombudsman; these are destroyed once the case is closed. The only exception to the ombudsman privilege of confidentiality is where there appears to be imminent risk of serious harm if there is no other reasonable option.
