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Ethical question



The Minnesota Historical Society has an explicit institutional policy:  "A
staff member will not directly or indirectly receive any payments of
expense, compensation, gifts, rewards ... from any source other than the
Society for any activity related to the duties of the staff member unless
otherwise provided by law."  Exceptions are such things as widely
distributed advertising trinkets, plaques etc. recognizing service or
achievement, and "honoraria or expenses paid for papers, talks,
demonstrations, or appearances made by staff members on their own time for
which they are not compensated by the Society."  What this means in practice
is, if it's work-related you can do it on work time (if your supervisor
approves that use of your time), but you have to turn in any honorarium.  If
you want to keep the honorarium, then you do the project off-hours or take
vacation time for it.

I would imagine that something similar applies in most non-academic
institutions (maybe academic ones, as well):  if someone else is going to,
in effect, give you money for doing your job, on the job, better not accept
it without explicit permission.

Lydia Lucas
Acting Head, Processing Department
Minnesota Historical Society
245 Kellogg Boulevard West
St. Paul, MN  55102-1906
ph (651) 297-5542
fax (651) 296-9961
e-mail:  lydia.lucas@mnhs.org

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