The Office of Ethics, Compliance and Labor Standards, under the direction of its Director, shall be responsible for managing the ethics, compliance, and labor standards and enforcement programs for the County. The ethics and compliance program will be a division within the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Labor Standards, titled the Office of Ethics and Compliance, with an emphasis on program oversight, education, training, monitoring, reporting and corrective action; responsibilities include facilitation and support to assure compliance with applicable federal and state laws, rules, regulations, ethical standards, statutes and County-specific policies and procedures, and the identification of alleged non- compliance for corrective action purposes. This includes receiving and investigating complaints alleging improper government activity including, but not limited to: abuse of authority, gross mismanagement, significant waste of County funds, improper billings, conflicts of interest, patient and client privacy, patient and client safety, alleged violations of federal and state funding requirements and potential danger to public safety or health; and, shall be responsible for receiving and investigating complaints of discrimination and harassment on the basis of characteristics protected by State or Federal anti-discrimination laws, County Charter or County ordinances and policies and shall make appropriate recommendations, establish written procedures to address such complaints; and, perform other duties as assigned by the CAO. The labor standards and enforcement program will be a division within the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Labor Standards, titled the Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement, and will emphasize education and outreach for non-County employee workers and employers in matters related to workers issues; encourage compliance with labor standards and regulations including receiving and investigating complaints of non-compliance and enforcement of standards and regulations; and, data-driven research and analysis to provide recommendations for advancing fair and safe workplaces. The Director shall be authorized to enforce applicable labor standards, policies, regulations, ordinances, and laws impacting non-County employee workers and employers to the extent permitted by state and federal law.
(Added by Ord. No. 10107 (N.S.), effective 2-10-11; amended by Ord. No. 10246 (N.S.), effective 2-28-13; amended by Ord. No. 10507 (N.S.), effective 1-4-18; amended by Ord. No. 10712 (N.S.), effective 2-11-21; amended by Ord. No. 10748 (N.S.), effective 10-14-21; amended by Ord. No. 10923 (N.S.), effective 11-21-24)