Outside Employment Approval and Reporting
I. Background and Rationale
The University encourages dissemination of the expertise and creativity of its employees. The University also has a statutory responsibility to establish policies that balance this dissemination with the other important roles of the University and to prevent abuses of the University’s resources. Further, the State of Illinois Faculty Research and Consulting Act (110 ILCS 100) prohibits full-time members of faculty to undertake, contract for, or accept anything of value in return for research or consulting services for any person other than that institution on whose faculty they serve without prior approval from the President of the University, or designee. The Act requires an annual report of outside employment.
Definition of Outside Employment: Additional employment for which compensation is paid by an external source while the employee is also under full-time contract with the University. This employment can be of any sort, including teaching, consulting, direct delivery of professional services, and advisory services.
Illinois State University Policy 3.3.7, Secondary/Outside Employment, requires that all tenured/tenure-track faculty, faculty associates, department chairs, school directors, and AP staff seek prior approval of outside employment and also that they report, on an annual basis, the outside employment they completed during the previous fiscal year.
At Illinois State University, approval authority for outside employment is delegated to the Provost.
II. Outside Employment Forms
Outside Employment Request (PERS 927) to be submitted prior to work being done outside of Illinois State University.
Outside Employment Report (PERS 928) to be completed at the end of fiscal year. Summarizes the work approved to be completed during the fiscal year.
III. Procedures
A. Obtaining Approval of Outside Employment
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1. Initiating a request for approval. Please complete Outside Employment Request (PERS 927). Note that outside employment is approved on an annual basis following the University’s fiscal year, July 1 through June 30. Please provide specific dates during the relevant fiscal year (July 1 through June 30) for the outside employment. If your outside employment opportunity extends beyond one fiscal year, you will need to submit a request for re-approval each year (see III.A.6 below).
Faculty, faculty associates, and AP staff should complete their requests online, submissions will be automatically routed to department chair/school director or other supervisor; Chairs, Directors and other supervisors will complete online approval or denial, and the request will forward automatically to the Dean or other second-level supervisor for their review and approval; then, the request is automatically forwarded to the Office of the Provost for final approval.
Please submit request for approval at least two weeks prior to the start of the outside employment, to assure timely Provost approval.
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2. Chair, director, or supervisor approval. If there are any questions, including any possible conflicts of interest or commitment, the chair/director/supervisor should discuss and clarify informally with the faculty member or other employee to ensure protection of the University and the employee.
Chairs, directors, and supervisors are asked to approve online at least one week prior to the start of the outside employment, to assure timely Provost approval.
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3. Dean or second-level supervisor approval. Upon receipt of a request, please review and approve or deny requests. Approved requests will be automatically forwarded to the Office of the Provost.
Deans and other second-level supervisors are asked to approve online at least three days prior to the start of the outside employment, to assure timely Provost approval.
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4. Final approval. The Provost or designee will review and approve the request, assuming any potential conflicts are managed and no other concerns are raised.
If potential conflicts remain unmanaged, or other concerns about the proposed outside employment are not addressed, an attempt will be made to resolve these issues so approval can be granted. The Provost may refuse approval for outside employment if such issues cannot be resolved.
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5. Notification of approval. Submitter and approvers will receive an email confirmation once final approval is completed.
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6. Outside employment extending beyond one fiscal year. If your outside employment will continue past June 30 and into the next fiscal year, please submit another request for the new fiscal year prior to June 15 to allow for timely processing. Renewals provide faculty and staff the opportunity to verify any changes in the circumstances of the outside employment and confirm or update their conflict management plans, as needed.
B. Annual Report of Outside Employment
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1. When your outside employment is complete (or at the end of the fiscal year, if it is continuing), please complete the Outside Employment Report (PERS 928).
In all cases, online submissions of annual reports for the previous year (July 1 through June 30) are due on August 31 at the latest annually.
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2. Department chair, school director, or supervisor will review online and approve, and then submissions will be routed to the dean or second-level supervisor by September 15.
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3. The dean or second-level supervisor will review, and approve online, then submissions will be forwarded to the Office of the Provost for record retention.