OEO By the Numbers

Response to inquiries 1-2 business days 

77% partial or full resolution on cases 

A Note from the Director and Our 2024 Annual Report

Some of the principles of ethical leadership and employee stewardship that led to the very creation of The Seattle Office of the Employee Ombuds are now in jeopardy. National and global political movements are at odds with the core truths that motivate us to fight for a more inclusive and respectful workplace. Our response, as always, is to be strategic instead of rhetorical. We are choosing to double down on enlightenment, education and expansion of discourse. For OEO and its small but resilient team, the course forward is certain and resolute--for all things that are divisive in our workplace, we will show up and engage in respectful dialog.

Six years since our inception, we have made great inroads at earning trust and normalizing healthy disagreement. We had always promised City employees the creation of a workplace that is not sterilized of all disagreements. The healthiest of teams disagree and share robustly conflicting views—and we are helping teams across the city channel their disagreements into respectful dialog that enables people to salvage relationships. Our office is designed to match emerging conflict trends with culturally informed learning and capacity building.

For more information on the work of our office, please read on in our 2024 Annual Report. 

Who We Are & Who We Serve

The Office of the Ombud (OEO) is a confidential, impartial, informal and independent resource that serves all current City of Seattle Employees, including those in probationary, temporary, and seasonal positions.

At this time, the OEO is not a resource for former employees, non-employee applicants to City jobs, retirees, or the general public.

How to Meet with the Ombud

We recommend that employees use our secure portal at oeointake.seattle.gov to submit a report. From there, we can either contact the employee through our secure portal, or use email or phone as they prefer. If employees do not wish to use our portal, they can also email the office at ombud@seattle.gov.

OEO Mission

OEO's mission is to empower individuals and teams to identify, address, and resolve conflict as well as other workplace concerns/challenges through non-escalatory, respectful, honest, equitable, and engaging strategies. We help employees by:

• Reframing conflict as an opportunity for mutual understanding, constructive dialogue and repairing harm.
• Not shying away from difficult conversations, particularly those about race, gender, and other identities.
• Identifying root/systemic issues that are generating or contributing to conflict.

Mission as Described in Enacting Ordinance (#125735)

Assist City employees, in all branches of City government, in understanding and assessing options and resources to address concerns about or claims of workplace conduct that may be: inappropriate; a violation of the City’s Personnel Rules, City polices, workplace expectations; harassment, discrimination, or retaliation; and provide analyses and recommendations of policy and rule changes needed to address departmental or system-wide inefficiencies and in-person training to prevent workplace discrimination and harassment in City employment.

Commitment to Anti-Racism

We believe racism is real, persistent, and contributes to other forms of oppression. We acknowledge our own internalized racism; educating ourselves on anti-racism and applying this knowledge to our practice. The OEO prioritizes team conversations about race and has created a culture of respectful and challenging discourse. We keep race at forefront of every interaction with OEO visitors. We validate the experiences of all visitors to our office. 

The OEO was established to identify and expose systems of oppression affecting City employees. We acknowledge the past and continuous harm of inequitable policies, practice, and culture within the City and have created a mechanism to expose and elevate stories of harm. We reaffirm our commitment to making recommendations and impacting change.  

Discrimination and Harassment

Discrimination and harassment in all forms is an ongoing trend that the OEO will join with other groups and units to address. As part of our intake meetings with individuals, even if discrimination or harassment is not their primary reported concern, we ask whether they believe their identity may be a factor in the conflict. Over half the visitors to our office reported that they believed their identity was a factor. As a part of conflict mitigation in the OEO, we believe that identity is almost always a factor in conflicts, and that bias, even where there is not legally actionable discrimination or harassment, must be systemically acknowledged and corrected. For more information on our office's work related to harassment and discrimination, City staff can watch the Anti-Harassment and Anti-Discrimination training available through Cornerstone. 

Whistle Blower Protections

The City of Seattle employees are encouraged to informally and confidentially discuss their concerns, challenges, and/or conflicts with OEO during their regular work hours. Although engaging with OEO is an activity that is protected from Retaliation (any unwarranted or negative change in an employee’s employment status, terms and conditions, or threats), OEO does not have the authority to grant any employee with Whistleblower Protection. Employees who believe they may be experiencing retaliation may contact the OEO or formally apply for Whistleblower Protection with the City's Office of Ethics and Elections Commission.