Conflict of Interest

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All employees shall treat their position with the Institute as a public trust. Employees shall use their positions and resources only to advance the public interest and not to obtain personal benefits or pursue private interests. Employees shall conduct themselves in a manner that justifies the confidence placed in them by the BAMSI community at all times maintaining the integrity and discharging ethically the high responsibilities of public service.

A conflict of interest is defined as incompatibility between an individual's private interests and his or her duties or actions as a college employee. A conflict of interest may make it difficult or impossible for an employee to perform their employment-related duties effectively or to act in the Institute’s best interests. Thus, all employees must avoid any situation that may give rise to a conflict of interest and the appearance of impropriety.

  • No employee may request or receive, and no person may offer an employee, any money, thing of value, favor or promise that is conditioned upon or given in exchange for promised performance of the employee’s duties or responsibilities.
  • Employees shall be disqualified from engaging in any outside work-related action directly affecting the employee’s financial interest. No employee during the period of employment shall acquire a financial interest when the employee believes or should have reason to believe that the new financial interest will be directly affected by the employee’s job performance.
  • No employee may request or receive an honorarium for a speech or service rendered that relates to the performance of their duties.
  • The Institute shall not enter into a contract with an employee or with a business in which the employee or the family of the employee has a substantial financial interest unless the employee has disclosed to the hiring supervisor the employee’s substantial interest and unless the contract is awarded pursuant to a competitive process.A person negotiating or executing a contract on behalf of the Institute shall exercise due diligence to ensure compliance with the provisions of this section.
  • An employee shall not sell, offer to sell, coerce the sale of, or be a party to a transaction to sell goods, services, construction or items of tangible personal property directly or indirectly through the employee’s family or a business in which the employee has a substantial interest, to anyone the employee supervises.An employee shall not receive a commission or shall not profit from the sale or a transaction to sell goods, services, construction or items of tangible personal property to anyone the employee supervises. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply if the supervised employee initiates the sale or to sales open to the BAMSI community such as through the bookstore, the library, food outlets or arts and craft sales.
  • Employees may not solicit business while on duty working for BAMSI.
  • Employees taking on side jobs to supplement their income will refrain from engaging in employment that would lead to the following situations:
    1. When the employee cannot fully attend to their BAMSI duties because of the outside employment;
    2. ­When the employee uses BAMSI resources to conduct outside work; and/or
    3. When the employee’s private work con­flicts with BAMSI interests.
  • Employees must report outside employment to their supervisors. Supervisors may counsel their employees on potential conflicts of interest that could arise from such employment, but cannot preemptively restrict outside employment without evidence that the conflict genuinely exists.
  • If an employee becomes aware that a conflict of interest or an appearance of impropriety exists, or that there is a reasonable potential for a conflict of interest to occur in the course of their employment duties, that employee should notify their supervisor. The supervisor should consult with the appropriate dean or department head and the Office of Human Resources to determine whether the activity is permissible or not, and the best course of action to avoid or to resolve a conflict of interest in the situation.
  • An employee who violates this policy may be subject to corrective action or disciplinary action up to, and including, termination. The discipline imposed will depend on the severity of the violation and the circumstances of the situation.