The city's fraud and waste hotline has uncovered evidence of misconduct by city employees, a new report revealed Monday, including faking sick days and using city equipment to post inappropriate videos online.

Auditor General Jeffrey Griffiths says many of the incidents were discovered through Toronto's controversial fraud and waste hotline, which was established in 2002.

More than 4,200 complaints have been called in to the so-called snitch line since its inception, including 573 in 2010. The report says the fraud and waste has cost the city $85,790, only $2,267 of which has been recovered. However, more money should be recovered this year as probes into previous complaints are completed.

Confirmed cases of misconduct include:

  • City employees used city equipment to create and post videos to social media sites that contained "inappropriate" content.
  • A city employee used city letterhead to solicit donations for a fake Christmas party.
  • A city worker submitted more than $2,100 worth of fake mileage claims.
  • City employees have taken sick days, which were in fact used to work a second job.

In many of the cases, employees were fined or otherwise disciplined. But the city's budget chief says the incidents sully the reputation of public servants.

"Even one complaint is one complaint too many," Coun. Mike Del Grande told CTV Toronto. "In the whole scope and the size of the civil service it's low, but that's not to say everyone has been caught."

One of the key recommendations in the report is to ensure there are better protections for city workers who call the hotline to report bad behaviour. In one case, an employee was fired for revealing information through the hotline. That employee has since been re-hired.

Some councillors say the report proves that the system in place to catch employee misconduct is working.

"If somebody is milking the system, we have a system in place that deals with it," Coun. Adam Vaughan said.

The auditor general's report will be discussed at the upcoming audit committee meeting on February 22.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness