Conflicts of Interest in the Workplace

Generally Presumed Conflicts of Interest in the Workplace

​Activities that are generally presumed to be Conflicts of Interest which indicate a need for disclosure, review, management, reduction, or elimination include:

• • Owning or acquiring a financial interest in, holding a position in, or having a consulting or other relationship with, any non-university entity that supplies goods, services, or finances to the University when the individual has decision-making authority for those transactions;
  • Promoting, marketing, or providing information about goods or services to the University community when the individual or a Family Member has a financial interest in or other relationship with the relevant business entity;
  • Using University resources to advocate, endorse, or market a product or a service, unless in conjunction with the Institutional Responsibilities of the individual;
  • Assuming or accepting any non-University duties requiring, or appearing to require, the use of University data, processes, procedures, or proprietary or confidential information;
  • Assigning duties or offering employment to university personnel to participate in or benefit the assigning individual’s Outside Professional Activity;
  • Receiving revenue on intellectual property on which an individual is a (co-)creator or (co-)inventor, where the individual also has an affiliation with or a financial interest in a commercial entity that has licensed that intellectual property from the University;
  • Teaching a University course for academic credit that includes a Family Member or a person that the instructor has a relationship that may compromise, or have the appearance of compromising, their professional judgment;
  • Renting housing to a supervisee or a student over whom a supervisor or a faculty member has direct academic or employment influence;
    Sharing in the proceeds or value of an external business (e.g., co-ownership) when University employees are co-workers (includes mentor-mentee, evaluator-evaluatee, supervisor-supervisee relationships) in their University employment;
  • Compensating a supervisee such as a graduate student researcher for work in an external business; or
  • Employing, compensating, or influencing a decision to benefit a Family Member.