Conflict of Interest and Commitment
I AM LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ABOUT:
| Conflict of Interest | Additional Employment (SHRA) |
| Conflict of Commitment (Faculty) | Secondary Employment (SHRA) |
| External Professional Activities for Pay (EHRA) |
Conflicts of Interest
There are three areas or types of conflicts of interest which can arise at the University: individual, organizational, and institutional.
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Individual Conflicts of Interest
Conflict of interest relates to situations in which financial or other personal considerations may compromise, may involve the potential for compromising, or may have the appearance of compromising a Covered Individual’s objectivity in meeting University duties or responsibilities, including research activities.
Learn More about Individual COI
To complete a Self-initiated COI disclosure, please go online to the Activities, Interests, and Relationships (AIR) management system. Click on the Self-Initiated Conflict of Interest disclosure menu item in the middle of the page. Please enter an appropriate title for the project, and select the sponsor (this is the entity with which you have a relationship to report). Then proceed to answer the rest of the questions. Please be sure to certify and submit the form when you are done.
Conflict of Commitment (Faculty)
All faculty employees are expected to devote their primary professional loyalty, time and energy to their institutional responsibilities. The term “conflict of commitment” relates to an employee’s distribution of effort between University duties or institutional responsibilities (primary and secondary) and external professional activities.
- Assigned teaching
- Scholarship
- Research
- Institutional service requirements
- Administrative duties
- Other assigned employment duties
Secondary duties may include professional affiliations and activities traditionally undertaken by University employees outside of the immediate University employment context. Secondary duties may or may not entail the receipt of honoraria, remuneration (see additional regulations, UNC System Office Policy Manual, 300.2.2.2 [R]), or the reimbursement of expenses. A list of these duties would include:
- Membership in and service to professional associations and learned societies;
- Membership on professional review or advisory panels;
- Presentation of lectures, papers, concerts or exhibits;
- Participation in seminars and conferences;
- Reviewing or editing scholarly publications and books without receipt of compensation;
- Service to accreditation bodies.
External Professional Activities for Pay (EHRA)
EHRA Faculty and EHRA non-Faculty employees of the University may participate in activities for compensation outside of their institutional duties, provided such participation is consistent with the Policy on External Professional Activities of Faculty and Other Professional Staff.
Additional Employment (SHRA)
Applies when a permanent full-time SHRA employee (regularly scheduled 40 hours each work week) who is normally appointed to one position at one established rate of pay is needed to work in an additional position on a temporary, part-time basis. Please note FLSA exempt employees should be paid based on the type of project and will no longer be paid on an hourly basis.
Additional employment involves work within the University beyond the permanent full-time employees regularly scheduled 40 hours and outside the employee’s:
- Home department or organizational unit,
- Regular work schedule, and
- Regularly assigned responsibilities.
Additional employment is limited to situations where the employee has specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities not readily available in the University’s recruitment area. Additional employment can be used only for an emergency or one-time, fixed-term assignment with a specified beginning and ending date (not over several semesters, for example) and not for any continuing need. Further, it cannot conflict with the employee’s normal work schedule or their regularly assigned full-time SHRA duties.
Under certain circumstances, additional employment may involve an employee who is filling a temporary teaching assignment. However, there are several conditions that apply in this situation. In addition, a SHRA non-exempt employee may not be appointed to a temporary teaching assignment.
The employee and their manager must submit an Additional Employment Request Form and obtain approval from OHR/Employment & Staffing before engaging in additional employment. Please refer to the Additional Employment Policy for more information.
Secondary Employment (SHRA)
Applies when a permanent full-time state agency or University employee plans to engage in secondary employment with another employer that is not a state agency or University. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that an employee’s secondary employment does not adversely affect the employee’s primary employment and does not create a conflict of interest.
Before engaging in secondary employment, an employee must submit a Secondary Employment Request Form for SHRA Employees to their supervisor and receive approval from OHR/Employment & Staffing. In addition, each January, employees who are continuing secondary employment must submit an updated Secondary Employment Request Form to their supervisors and Office of Human Resources (OHR)/Employment & Staffing.
Please refer to the Secondary Employment Policy and Secondary Employment Procedure for more information.