Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at IIT

The purpose of this code is to provide Department staff with a set of ethical standards which will guide their relationship with persons served by the institutions and agencies of the Department, with the families of such persons, the general public, and with commercial and industrial firms, with whom the Department does business. Chapter 182, P.L. 1971, the New Jersey Conflicts of Interest Law, is the basic statute and its policy declaration is pertinent here. In C. 52:13D-12 the Legislature finds and declares:

(a) In our representative form of government it is essential that the conduct of public officials and employees shall hold the respect a-,id confidence of the people. Public officials must, therefore, avoid conduct which is in violation of their public trust or which creates  a justifiable impression among the public that such trust is being violated.

(b) To ensure propriety and preserve public confidence, persons serving in government should have the benefit of specific standards to guide their conduct and of some disciplinary mechanism to ensure the uniform maintenance of those standards amongst them. Some standards of this type may be enacted as general statutory prohibitions or requirements; others, because or complexity and variety of circumstances, are best left to the governance of codes of ethics formulated to meet the specific needs and conditions of the several agencies of government.

(c) It is also recognized that under a free government it is both necessary and desirable that all citizens, public officials included, should have certain specific interests the decisions of government, and that the activities and conduct or public officials should not, therefore, be unduly circumscribed. The following guidelines are hereby promulgated, as approved by the Executive Commission on Ethical Standards, to become effective September 1, 1978.

1. No State officer or employee shall have any interest, financial or otherwise, direct or indirect, or engage in any business or transaction or professional activity, which is in substantial conflict without proper discharge of his duties in the public interest.

2. No State officer or employee shall engage in any particular business, profession, trade or occupation which is subject to licensing or regulation b a specific agency of State without promptly filing notice of such activity, with the Executive Commission on Ethical Standards, if he is an officer or employee in the Executive Branch.

3. No State officer or employee shall use or attempt to use his official position to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages for himself or others.

4. No State officer or employee shall act in his official capacity in any matter wherein he has a direct or indirect personal financial interest that might reasonably be expected to impair his objectivity or independence of judgment.

5. No State officer or employee, shall undertake any employment or service, whether compensated or not, which might reasonably be expected to impair his objectivity and independence or judgment in the exercise of his official duties.

6. No State officer or employee shall accept any gift, favor, service or other thing of value under circumstances from which it might be reasonably inferred: that such gift, service or other thing of value was given or offered for the purpose of influencing him in the discharge of his official duties.

7. No State officer or employee shall knowingly act in any way that might reasonably be expected to create an impression or suspicion among the public having knowledge of his acts that he may be engaged in conduct violative of his trust as a State officer or employee.

8. This code is intended to augment but not to replace existing Department Administrative Orders and pertinent professional codes of ethics.

9. Violations of this code of ethics shall be cause for removal, suspension, demotion or other disciplinary action by the Department. No disciplinary action shall be taken, however, except upon the referral or with the approval of the Executive Commission on Ethical Standards.