Gifts from Clients to Employees

Alice · February 2002

Our organization is part of the state's higher education system. Our employees are academics who do agricultural research. Some of them receive "gifts" from from outside organizations like pesticide, poulty producing, or feed companies. The gifts range from fruit & cheese baskets to all-expenses-paid fishing trips in Canada. What are the legal & ethical issues here? Could you provide an example of a company policy which would permit inexpensive gifts but put limitations on other gifts? Thanks!

Gerri · February 2002

Alice,

Is your organization actually part of the state system and your employees state employees? If so, check with your state's laws or rules on ethics. Our state has ethics laws regarding public service, and gifts such as those you mention are generally considered "no-no's".

Mike Maslanka · February 2002

i agree and would go even further...if the gift givers could benefit dollar wise from the outcome of research being done then a no gift policy(which i understand might cause an outcry)should be considered...this is especially so because academic research is,as i understand it,often highly political,and you do not want your research subject to attack because the researchers took some expensive gifts and trips...regards from the lone star state,mike maslanka

Hatchetman · February 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-01-02 AT 06:04PM (CST)[/font][p]As Gerri mentioned, there may be a state law speaking to state and local government employees in certain policy-making or managerial positions either not being legally permitted to receive gifts, or gifts over a certain amount, or having to report all gifts over a certain amount. In California, there is such a law, for example. Or it is possible the state law may in fact prohibit all governmental employees. Short of that, it is most likely a public agency's policy that will address the receipt of gifts by most of its employees in connection with possible conflicts of interest situations.

Without knowing what state you're in, I suggest if you want to get some idea of limits or wording of an approach used by the University of California. They have pollicy on the receipt of gifts. You can also check out the California Political Reform Act of 1974 and the California Fair Political Practices Commission at the CFPPC's website.

Gifts from Clients to Employees

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