Consulting and other outside professional or volunteer activities can provide valuable experience for faculty in aspects of their professional fields outside the context of California Health Sciences University (“CHSU”) itself. CHSU encourages faculty to engage in activities that contribute to the faculty member’s profession, to the community, and to the faculty member’s teaching work. However, CHSU also understands that the nature of these activities may conflict with CHSU’s goals and policies and divert faculty from their primary obligations, activities and responsibilities at CHSU.
The purpose of this policy is to define the University’s practices regarding consulting and other professional activities that faculty may participate in. Specifically, the purpose is to ensure that no Conflict of Interest or interference with work performance, work schedule, or job duties occurs as a result of faculty participation in outside activities. Furthermore, faculty may not use the University’s property, facilities, equipment, supplies, IT systems (such as computers, networks, email, telephones, or voicemail), time, trademarks, brand, or reputation in connection with any outside activities, without obtaining prior written permission from the University. Faculty members engaging in outside employment must continue to maintain the confidentiality and protection of confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information of the University.
Nothing in this policy is intended to prevent a faculty member from otherwise engaging in lawful activities during non-working hours away from the employee’s premises. This policy applies only to faculty members, including those faculty members holding adjunct or administrative appointments.
Definitions as Used in this Policy Only
- Publication/Scholarship: Scholarly communications by the faculty member in all forms including but not limited to: books, articles, papers, speeches and presentations etc.
- Consulting: A professional activity related to the faculty member’s field or discipline (e.g., pharmacy or medicine etc.), where a third party pays the faculty member for such activity or in some instances where the faculty member engages in professional practice.
- Outside Professional Services: All activities that are a voluntary service to the public, academia or a government agency. Such activities are distinguished from consulting in that they are not undertaken for personal financial gain by the faculty member, even if a modest honorarium is provided to the faculty member for such activities.
- Moonlighting: All other for-profit endeavors not mentioned under another definition in this Policy.
- Conflict of Interest: Employees may not engage in any activity which creates a conflict of interest. A conflict of interest exists when the activity engaged in competes with the University or reflects negatively on the University’s reputation.
Disclosure and Review Process
With respect to adjunct faculty, it is common and appropriate that adjunct faculty will have one or more primary positions with employers other than CHSU. Accordingly, to ensure compliance with this policy, adjuncts should disclose these positions to the Office of Human Resources prior to beginning the first day of work at CHSU or whenever the adjunct begins a new external position(s), or as otherwise required by HR, to ensure no conflicts of interest exist. Also, the adjunct’s supervisor, in conjunction with HR, will determine if the adjunct has capacity to perform the duties for which CHSU has hired them.
Faculty members also are required to disclose participation in Publication/Scholarship, Consulting, Outside Professional Services, Moonlighting or other activities outside the normal course of the faculty member’s position to the Office of Human Resources and their supervisor in advance of pursuing a new activity. For faculty members already engaged in such activities, they are required to disclose those to the Office of Human Resources within 90 business days of the effective date of this policy.
The Office of Human Resources maintains a disclosure form for use by all faculty members to comply with this policy. Faculty should submit the form to the Office of Human Resources at hr@chsu.edu. The Office of Human Resources will work with the appropriate department chair and college dean to determine whether the outside activities listed comply with this policy. In most cases, approval of the faculty member’s college dean may be required.
Use Of CHSU Time for Outside Activities for Full-Time Faculty
With prior written approval from the Office of Human Resources and the appropriate college dean, CHSU grants full-time faculty up to a maximum of twenty-five (25) paid working days per fiscal year that may be used by the faculty member to engage in outside activities, including, but not necessarily limited to, Publication/Scholarship, Consulting, Outside Professional Services or Moonlighting. The 25-day limit applies only to faculty members’ use of time they are otherwise scheduled to work for CHSU. Faculty members may take vacation time to engage in such activities beyond 25 days, pursuant to CHSU Vacation Policy, as it may change from time to time. Use of CHSU time for outside activities is subject to all the following limitations:
- CHSU employees who are full-time faculty members and serve as preceptors for CHSU students as part of their CHSU assigned job duties may not simultaneously conduct CHSU job duties and the job duties of another employer;
- Such outside activities may not create a Conflict of Interest with CHSU, may not compete with CHSU, and may not negatively impact CHSU’s reputation;
- Faculty must not engage in outside activities, as defined in section one of this policy during time that they are assigned to teach students. If a faculty member wishes to conduct outside activities on a teaching day, the faculty member may use accrued but unused vacation to take that day off in accordance with the CHSU Vacation Policy and with approval from the faculty member’s supervisor;
- Any such work must be of a strictly professional nature and must be conducted in accordance with all University policies, and College level policies applicable to the faculty member, including, but not limited to, the Code of Ethics, the University’s Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Misconduct and Title IX Policies and Procedures, and Intellectual Property Policy, as they may change from time to time;
- Use of such days consecutively in any amount requires the advance approval of the faculty member’s supervisor;
- All consulting days must be appropriately logged in the University’s electronic payroll system;
- Faculty members must take care not to use the name of the University or a college within the University in connection with such activities without advance written permission from the Marketing & Communications Department;
- Faculty members may not use CHSU facilities or resources for such activities without advance approval from the CHSU Facilities & Operations Department.