Your
Role in an OSC Investigation Why OSC has contacted you. OSC is conducting an investigation into allegations
of PPP or Hatch Act violations that may have occurred in your agency. You
have been identified as someone who has or may have information relevant
to this matter. In most PPP cases, the OSC investigator obtains relevant
documents and interviews the complainant and a number of agency employees
who may have knowledge about events relevant to the investigation. These
interviews may be conducted in person at the agency facility, at the OSC
offices or by telephone. Investigations into Hatch Act and other matters
follow a similar pattern. What to expect if you are contacted by an OSC
investigator Witnesses Witnesses are individuals who have, or may have,
factual information about the events upon which the allegations are based.
For example, they may be personnel officials, co-workers of the
complainant, or other persons who witnessed events related to the
complaint. Federal regulations require Federal agencies and
employees to provide information to OSC in connection with its
investigative activities. See 5 C.F.R. § 5.4.
You are required to answer all of the investigator’s questions
and to answer them fully and truthfully.
If you do not understand the question, you may ask the investigator
to restate it, or clarify it. The
investigator will take notes on what you say, and may tape the interview.
The investigator may also ask you to sign an affidavit or sworn
statement. If so, you will
have an opportunity to carefully review the statement and to make changes
before signing the document. If
you sign a sworn affidavit or if the interview is taped, you may ask for a
copy of your statement. In most cases, the information you provide to OSC
will remain confidential. Information in OSC investigative files is
protected from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Neither the complainant nor the agency will ordinarily have access
to the information you provide to the investigator. You can ask the OSC
investigator for more information about the confidentiality of your
statements.
Witnesses, because they are not the persons
responsible for the actions at issue in the complaint, generally do not
have any need for legal counsel during an OSC interview, and they seldom
request to have a legal representative present. If a witness requests
legal representation, OSC will permit the witness to have personal legal
counsel present at the interview. Your
agency may not require you to have agency counsel present during your OSC
interviews.
Subjects Subjects are agency officials who had personnel
authority with respect to the personnel actions at issue in the complaint,
and/or who have been identified as the individuals who may have been
responsible for those personnel actions.
OSC routinely interviews such agency officials to obtain
information about the allegations in the complaint from the agency’s
perspective. If OSC finds that an agency official committed a
prohibited personnel practice or violated the Hatch Act, under some
circumstances that individual may be subject to disciplinary action. For
this reason, some, but not all, of the persons OSC designates as subjects
obtain legal representation and have counsel present during their
interviews. OSC will notify you if it considers you to be a subject. If
you are not so notified, you can assume that you do not face possible
disciplinary action in the matter under investigation.
The Role of Agency Counsel
As an independent agency, OSC does not conduct its investigations in conjunction with the agency in which the alleged prohibited personnel practice or Hatch Act violation occurred. Nor does OSC permit agencies to have members of their legal staff present at OSC interviews for the purpose of representing the agency. Agencies do, however, often provide personal legal representation to agency officials who have taken the personnel actions under investigation by OSC in the course of their official duties. Most agencies have procedures in place for requesting and granting employee requests for representation by agency counsel.
Agency Liaisons
Most agencies have staff who have been designated to
serve as a liaison with OSC during the OSC investigation. These liaisons
may be attorneys in the Office of General Counsel, or employee relations
or human resources staff. Liaisons
assist the OSC investigator by facilitating responses to requests for
documents, arranging for interview rooms, scheduling interviews and
engaging in other activities related to the investigation and resolution
of the allegations. The liaison will also be able to answer general
questions about your rights and responsibilities as a witness in the OSC
investigation. When the liaison is an attorney, the liaison should not
serve as the personal legal representative of any witness or subject. Legal Representation
If you decide that you want to have a legal representative present during your OSC interview, you must inform the investigator before the interview and provide OSC with a completed Designation of Representation form. Both you and your legal representative must sign the form. You may get a copy of the form from the OSC investigator or the OSC web site at www.osc.gov. Look under “Publications.”
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