30-04.7 Personal Benefit from Projects

Policy Description

It is the policy of Florence-Darlington Technical College (FDTC) that an employee may only receive benefits from the use of College resources or work performed by students for instructional purposes if the benefits are also available to the general public. The employee cannot derive personal gain or other benefit from work performed by students, even if the work is performed for instructional purposes.

To clarify, an employee of the College may not:
• be paid for work performed by themselves or students that were part of a classroom learning activity; contract with a company to perform work for the company using College resources and/or students whereby the employee receives payment from said company even when the work is part of a classroom learning or lab activity;
• sell goods produced as part of a classroom learning activity or goods that were produced by the employee using College resources; or
• use College property, equipment, or other resources for their own commercial purposes where the employee receives payment or other economic benefit.

Where there are conflicts or inconsistencies between this policy and the Ethics Reform Act of 1991, the provisions of the Ethics Act will take precedence. For additional information related to this topic, please refer to the State Ethics Commission’s Rules of Conduct Section 8-13-700 Use of Official Position or Office for Financial Gain; Disclosure of Potential Conflict of Interest.