I very rarely receive anonymous complaints or accusations of inappropriate behaviour or misconduct, but it does happen. These complaints always arrive by emails that can’t be traced back to the sender, should anyone want to do so.

Because they feel protected from any kind of consequence, the alleged victims or witnesses often vent the strongest feelings of anger, frustration, indignation, envy or animosity. And since the senders avoid giving details that could identify them, what they write is often quite vague.

All sorts of things may hide behind an anonymous complaint, including:

• a colleague who is in good faith and truly affected by a breach of the Code of Conduct, such as harassment, and particularly concerned about possible retaliation, especially if the issue is with a supervisor or someone high up in the hierarchy;
• someone wanting to harm another colleague by triggering an investigation against them;
• several anonymous complaints targeting the same person in a short time, in which case the possibility of a concerted attempt to impact that person’s career, for whatever reason, must be considered; or
• simply someone enjoying the art of accusing and spreading rumours.

The impact of an anonymous complaint on the target is significantly stronger than when the person knows who has complained and why. With anonymous complaints, it is impossible to react, defend oneself or, in some cases, to understand why a management or disciplinary process has been initiated. This is extremely destabilising and may also put the person accused at risk.

No one can respond to accusations when they don’t know who is accusing them and when they are given only vague information about what allegedly happened and when.

Anonymous complaints also deprive the Ombud of the opportunity to discuss with the complainant their fear of retaliation and to understand how and why such a fear is grounded in their work environment. They also deprive the complainant of having their case reflected in the trends that are reported in an entirely anonymous way to the top management as part of the Ombud’s annual report.

When I received anonymous complaints, I once again had to carefully reflect on the Ombud’s role. And after having deeply considered how to address them, I have come to the conclusion that I can only acknowledge them but decline to act on them in any way.  

I respond to the anonymous senders with a copy of the Ombud’s mandate to remind them that my role is centred on informal dispute resolution and explain why I will not act on their email. I also remind them that the CERN Ombud is the closest they have at their disposal to a whistleblowing channel, as the CERN Ombud will not – under any circumstances – reveal their identity or do anything without their authorisation. I also invite them to a meeting in my office so that they can describe the case. If they do not want to risk being seen in my office, I suggest a Zoom meeting.

The CERN Ombud will not act on anonymous complaints. If your complaints or accusations are in good faith and if you are concerned about possible retaliation, I encourage you to contact the Ombud at ombud@cern.ch. This will give you the opportunity to expose the breach of the Code of Conduct that you are aware of, while fully preserving your anonymity.

Laure Esteveny

I would like to hear your reactions and suggestions – join the CERN Ombud Mattermost team members at https://mattermost.web.cern.ch/cern-ombud/.

More information on the role of the CERN Ombud and how to contact her can be found at https://ombud.web.cern.ch.