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Internal Management Memoranda
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Internal Management Memoranda
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2002
INTERNAL MANAGEMENT MEMORANDUM NUMBER: 6C1-6.30-1-12 (Revised)
SUBJECT: IFAS; Disclosure of IFAS Outside Employment/Activity/Consulting for Faculty & A&P
This IMM is intended to help those providing disclosure and seeking appropriate allowance for outside activities and for the processing of the necessary University and IFAS disclosure forms.
The IFAS policy found in this IMM is in concert with the University's policy and is codified in the Florida Administrative Code 6C1-6.015; this Code establishes specific requirements for faculty/A&P beyond general University requirements. The reason for additional policy is based on the mission of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station (FAES) and the Florida Cooperative Extension Service (FCES). Each of these units employ faculty, in a manner unique within the University, specifically to conduct research or extension education programs. Therefore, the potential for conflict of interest is greater than other areas of the University that do not pay faculty to conduct these activities. The purpose is not to encourage or discourage such activity. However, due to the land-grant mission, the state-wide focus of IFAS educational and research endeavors, and the twelve (12) month appointments of faculty/A&P, there are some additional restrictions.
IFAS faculty/A&P employees have professional duties, responsibilities, and obligations to IFAS' goals of teaching, research, extension, and service as manifested in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS), FAES, and the FCES. Their primary professional and intellectual responsibilities are to the University. Appropriate time and energy is devoted to one's University duties, responsibilities, and obligations to ensure they are met. However, upon disclosure and administrative review, faculty/A&P may also engage in outside employment, consulting, and other similar activities. These disclosed activities may further the dissemination and use of the knowledge and expertise developed at the University and may also advance the professional competence and reputation of the faculty/A&P. Thus, participation in outside activities sometimes serves the mission of the University and IFAS in addition to benefitting the respective employees.
Such activities and the financial interests of employees are of concern to the University if they result or could result in conflict with one's duties, responsibilities, and obligations to the University. Therefore, disclosure of any outside activity or financial interest is required. Examples of outside activities include:
There is a limit to the time that faculty/A&P can spend in outside activities. The limit of time is one day (eight (8) hours) per seven (7) day week on average (see 5.).
In reviewing the disclosure, outside activities will be assessed for their potential conflict of interest and/or conflict of commitment. Faculty/A&P may participate in such outside activities and hold financial interests as long as there is no conflict and they are fulfilling their duties, responsibilities, and obligations to the University.
The University's official statement is located at: http://rgp.ufl.edu/research/outside_activities.html.
Related policies are substantially defined in the Florida Administrative Code (Rules). All are accessible on the web from the IFAS Personnel Affairs Website: http://personnel.ifas.ufl.edu/
6C1- 1.011, Disclosure and Regulation of Outside Activities and Financial Interests; 6C1- 6.015, IFAS Outside Activity Guidelines;
Great care must be taken to ensure that outside consulting does not compromise future research funding. For example, companies employing faculty/A&P as consultants may desire commercial access to inventions or discoveries made during the course of this business relationship. Future funding partners might refuse to fund IFAS research if they had been denied access to the knowledge gained from prior consulting contracts or agreements. These companies may also seek rights to future, yet-to-be-developed knowledge discovered at IFAS.
This situation is in direct conflict with the mission of IFAS to develop and disseminate non-proprietary knowledge and information to all the citizens of Florida.
The IFAS policy on professional scheduling addresses the need to balance compensated time (work or annual leave) and personal time during a workweek for faculty and A&P employees only. Faculty/A&P in IFAS have professional duties, responsibilities, and obligations to IFAS' goals of teaching, research, extension, and service. To fulfill these, they often have schedules that are outside the typical workweek and necessitate the use of professional scheduling. Such schedules are not amenable to strict time clock monitoring and analysis. However, the terms "hours", "days", etc., are used in the following guidelines for illustration.
IFAS faculty/A&P who propose to engage in any outside activity, as noted in this IMM, must seek and receive administrative review and authorization prior to initiating the employment/activity. Disclosure (per C.) must be done each fiscal year (July 1- June 30) for on- going activities. There is also a statement on each employee's annual contract that addresses the disclosure of outside activities.
Two forms (UF and IFAS) are required. The request must be signed by the Unit Leader, Dean(s), and Vice President before the faculty/A&P engages in the outside activity. The forms should be submitted thirty (30) days in advance of the proposed outside activity. (See D. for instructions on form completion.)
As noted in C., two forms are needed to request authorization of an outside activity. Instructions are as follows:
Both the form and detailed instructions are located online at: http://www.aa.ufl.edu/aa/Forms/AAFormOutsideAct.pdf
Both the form and detailed instructions are located online at: http://personnel.ifas.ufl.edu/ or http://forms.ifas.ufl.edu/
A board/ board of directors is a group of persons having managerial, supervisory, investigatory, policymaking, or advisory powers. From time to time, faculty/A&P may be asked to serve on boards that have some direct interest in agriculture and/or natural resources issues. If the organization has a relationship with UF, the faculty/A&P should recuse themselves from votes on issues with any connection to the University. If the faculty/A&P receive a grant from an organization, they cannot serve on the board. Otherwise, an apparent conflict of interest would exist. (Concerns are further delineated under Consulting.)
A business activity is a private practice or private business activity such as serving on a board of directors of a business, management of a small business, or engagement in farming or other agricultural enterprises. A determining factor is that the employee has a financial interest in the activity. One must have advance authorization by the Vice President in order for the business entity to conduct business with the University in any way. It is important to carefully assess one's role in the business (on the board, owner, shareholder, etc.) and the business' relationship, if any, to the University (purchases, recommendations, contracts, grants, etc.). If such an interaction is not handled properly, a conflict of interest would result.
A conflict of commitment exists when one's duties, responsibilities, and obligations are not being met due to the distribution of effort between outside activities and University employment.
One's University position is considered his/her primary employment. Therefore, the time involved in any outside activity must be of a limited nature. Outside activities will not be allowed for faculty/A&P who are not fulfilling their University employment responsibilities. (Examples follow)
Example - a faculty member's productivity has suffered due to his/her involvement in an outside business.
A conflict of interest occurs in:
Therefore, a conflict of interest occurs in any situation in which a person serves or represents two distinct entities (or persons), or must choose between two conflicting interests. Such situations could include financial or other personal considerations that may compromise, may involve the potential for compromising, or may have the appearance of compromising one's objectivity in meeting University duties, responsibilities, and obligations. (Examples follow)
Example - a faculty member is asked to serve on a county/city board in the county in which they work. Issues that affect the extension office will likely be raised on this board. Therefore, this should be disclosed and one should abstain from voting on any matters in which a conflict of interest would exist.
Example - a faculty member owns a business that directly relates to his/her subject matter expertise. This could become a conflict of interest if the focus on the business duplicates or overshadows the responsibility to the University. If there is an overlap of the same duties and responsibilities that the faculty member is evaluated on annually, a conflict of interest exists.
Consulting is when one provides professional or expert advice or services beyond his/her professional responsibilities at the University. Typically, one receives compensation and/or expenses for these services.
IFAS' state-wide mission includes teaching, research, and extension educational programs. Therefore, avoiding conflict of interest when consulting within the state is difficult. As a result, consulting in the state of Florida on matters related to one's position is strictly limited. The following points should be considered:
Example - a faculty member in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation is hired by a large forestry company to assess the reforestation practices for their lands in Washington State. This is beyond the faculty member's assigned responsibilities at the University and should be disclosed.
Compensation is defined as income, assets, or capital, either realized or having the potential to become realized.
Because of the expertise and work of IFAS personnel within the IFAS extension and research missions, IFAS faculty/A&P employees may be asked by individuals and industry (and their counsel) to serve as fact and/or consultants/expert witnesses in legal matters. The IFAS mission is to impartially serve all of its broad and varied clientele in the State of Florida. Thus, IFAS personnel are expected to avoid providing, or appearing to provide, services to one or more of the persons or entities served to the detriment of others. As a result, please be aware of the following:
IFAS faculty/A&P may be asked to serve as a fact witness in a legal case involving a matter in which he/she was involved in the course and scope of IFAS employment. For example, an extension faculty member may have observed and tested certain plants on a farm in order to advise the farm owner. The providing of these services is part of the extension faculty's employment. The results of the tests may become relevant to a lawsuit filed for or against the farm involved, and the extension faculty member may be able to testify as to these facts.
In order to serve as a fact witness in such a case, the faculty/A&P must be served with a valid subpoena. A subpoena is a command to appear at a certain time and place to give testimony and may also require that the person or entity subpoenaed provide certain documents.
If a faculty/A&P is served with a subpoena he/she should follow the steps outlined in the section entitled "Subpoenas." Because the faculty/A&P will be acting in the course and scope of his/her employment when serving as a fact witness, it is not necessary to take annual leave.
An expert witness has no first-hand knowledge of the facts relevant to a particular lawsuit. An expert witness is retained by one of the parties to a lawsuit to give expert opinions on the facts. Thus, any expert witness service, like other forms of consulting, is an outside activity and not within the course and scope of employment. In rare cases, a subpoena may be served that requires faculty/A&P services as an expert witness in his/her area of expertise within IFAS. Any such subpoena should be reported immediately, as noted below, as a legal challenge to the subpoena may be appropriate.
To avoid the appearance of "taking sides," IFAS policy is that its faculty/A&P may not act as consultants or expert witnesses in legal matters in the State of Florida. Because the concern about "taking sides" is not as great, employment as a consultant/expert witness on a legal matter outside of the State of Florida may be permitted as long as there is no likely adverse impact on IFAS operations and mission and such service is allowed under University rules and the Florida Code of Ethics for Public Employees.
When determining whether IFAS' personnel will be permitted to serve as consultants/expert witnesses, the principles discussed in the law and rules will be considered. [A reference to the University website is on Page 3.] One of the potential conflicts noted in this brochure is especially pertinent here--that is, faculty/A&P, by serving as an expert witness, may cause his/her own unpublished research data and that of university colleagues and students to be revealed in the course of a lawsuit, thereby compromising the ability of not only the faculty/A&P, but also of colleagues and students, to publish their research results. In such a case, the conflict between university obligations and service as an expert witness would preclude approval of the outside activity.
If faculty/A&P have been asked to serve as a consultant/expert witness and he/she does not think the activity will create any conflicts, he/she must complete the "Disclosure of Outside Activities and Financial Interests" form and secure all necessary approvals before providing the services.
Finally, official time may not be used for serving as an expert witness or consultant (except in certain rare cases involving a subpoena as described above) in a legal case: annual leave must be taken. In addition, please remember faculty/A&P are not representing IFAS when providing these services and, thus, are in no way protected by his/her status as a university employee; rather he/she, in their individual capacity, are contracting to provide the services as an independent contractor.
An honorarium is a limited amount of money designated to show appreciation for one's time and effort. Formal disclosure of honoraria is required only for amounts of $1000 or greater.
This is the term used to describe time for which the University is paying and for which one is not on paid leave. With appropriate authorization, official time can be used for work outside the scope of one's assigned responsibilities that would still benefit the University. Annual leave or a combination of both may be used depending on the nature of the outside activity and its relationship to the mission of IFAS. Annual leave should be taken for work that is beyond the scope of one's official duties. If an activity can be viewed as part of one's official duties and would benefit the University, then official time should be requested.
An outside activity is defined as employment or engaging in private business activity beyond the scope of one's University position and its duties, responsibilities, and obligations. Examples include: business activity, court appearances, some honoraria, consulting, candidacy for public office, etc. Some outside activities could relate closely to one's professional responsibility; such activities are disclosed when compensation such as honoraria and expense reimbursement are involved. Outside activities are done while, as a general rule, on annual leave or during non-University paid time (typically weekends and evenings).
This information is managed by the
Office of the Vice
President for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Send any corrections, additions or deletions to
apc@ifas.ufl.edu.