Confidentiality is essential to the effectiveness of the Staff Ombuds Office. It enables us to create a safe space in which people can speak freely about their concerns and explore a wide range of possible courses of action.

We will not disclose any information that is shared with us unless the person gives us explicit permission, or unless required by law to do so. In addition, even when a person gives us permission to disclose information, we may decide not to do so if, in our judgement, such disclosure would not be an effective method of conflict resolution, or would involve us in formal proceedings. Thus, we reserve the right to uphold confidentiality even when the person who used our services requests disclosure to others of what has transpired.

An exception to our assurance of confidentiality is the rare occasion on which, in our judgement, there is an imminent risk of serious harm and no other responsible course of action exists.

Confidentiality must be mutual. Anyone who contacts us must agree not to repeat what we have said without our explicit permission to do so.

To assure confidentiality, we do not operate as an office of record or of notice. We do not keep records that identify individuals, nor do we participate in formal proceedings except to the extent required by law. Providing us with information does not constitute official notice to the University of problems or policy violations. If a visitor wishes to put the University “on notice”, that is, to make the University formally aware of a particular problem and request a response to it, we can provide information on how to do so.

Staff Ombuds is a unit of Administration at the University of California at Berkeley.