Procedure to file complaint against a municipal employee

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Filing a Complaint with the Enforcement Division

If you believe that a state, county or municipal employee has violated the conflict of interest or financial disclosure law, you can file a complaint with the Commission's Enforcement Division. All materials relating to a complaint are required by law to be kept confidential, as well as the name of the complainant. A complaint may be filed by telephone by speaking to an Intake Investigator, or in writing via U.S. mail, or electronically by email using the Commission's online complaint form.

Please note the following:

DO NOT file the same complaint more than once or use more than one of these methods to file the same complaint.
You will be notified when we have completed reviewing the matter.
If a complainant chooses to remain anonymous, we will not be able to contact him to follow up on his complaint.
The Enforcement Division will not return any materials submitted in support of complaints.

1. Call the Intake Investigator (617) 371-9500 or (888) 485-4766

Intake Investigators are generally available to take calls between noon and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. If an investigator is not available to speak with you immediately, one will return your call within one business day.


2. File a Complaint in Writing via U.S. mail

To file a complaint via U.S. mail, please include all relevant facts and a specific concern. Include the name of the public employee/official about whom you are complaining, his/her position, and the specifics of your concern in as much detail as possible. Please mail your complaint to:

State Ethics Commission
Enforcement Division
One Ashburton Place, Room 619
Boston, MA 02108-1501

If you are sending documents or records with your complaint, please be sure to keep a copy for yourself.


3. File an Online Complaint

Disclaimer Notice about Sending or Receiving Information via Email

The Commission is required to maintain confidentiality with respect to its receipt and regarding its review of complaints, and is specifically required to keep confidential the identities of complainants. We urge anyone who wishes to file a complaint electronically to do so using his or her home computer. Use of a computer provided by an employer or others may not protect your, or the subject's, privacy. Your employer, for example, may have a right to access the emails and other electronic information sent on the employer's computers or network. The Ethics Commission will not be responsible for any breaches of confidentiality that occur in connection with information transmitted electronically or via email.

Please be advised that the Commission will not return any materials submitted in support of complaints.

File a Complaint using the Online Form

If you believe a public employee has violated the conflict of interest or financial disclosure law, you may file a complaint using the online form below. Please note the following before using the online form:

You must have an email program available to submit the online form. It is sent to the Commission as an email attachment. If you do not have an email program, please call or write to the Commission to file your complaint.
If you wish to remain anonymous, do not use the online complaint form. Anonymous online complaints will not be accepted. Please call or write to the Commission to file an anonymous complaint.
You will need the latest version of Adobe Reader to be able to fill out the form. You can download the latest version at https://get.adobe.com/reader/. The web browser that you use to complete the online complaint form must allow you to use Adobe Reader:
If you are using Internet Explorer, it should allow you to use Adobe Reader by default unless you use a different program to view pdf documents and that program is set as a web browser default program.
If you are using Mozilla Firefox, you need to verify that Adobe Reader will activate whenever a pdf document is opened. To do this, open the web browser and click “Tools” in the menu selections at the top left of your screen, then click “Add-ons” in the drop down menu, then click “Plug-ins” from the menu selections on the left side of the screen, and then select “Always Activate” from the drop down menu next to Adobe Acrobat.
If you are using Google Chrome, it has its own built-in pdf viewer which has to be disabled so that Adobe Reader becomes the default pdf viewer. To do this, open Chrome and type the url: chrome://plugins in the web address and hit Enter on your keyboard. The web browser plug-in page will open. Click to disable the “Chrome PDF Viewer.” Alternatively, you can type chrome://extensions in the url address, hit Enter, and click the “Enable” box for Adobe Acrobat Extension.
When you complete the form, click the "Submit" button at the bottom of the form. A pop-up window will appear asking you to select the type of email program you will use to submit the online form, either a default email program on your computer, such as Microsoft Outlook, or a web email program, such as Gmail. Once you make your selection, click "ok" and an email message will display with the Commission's email address pre-populated in the address field. Your online form will be attached to that email. Press "Send" to email the form to the State Ethics Commission. You should then receive an auto-reply message stating that your complaint was received.

Advocate Siddhant Sharma LawRato