Employees & Officials
As a City employee, you’re in the public service business.
“Public service” means just that – your job is to serve the public. Regardless of your job or office here – manual labor or a skilled trade, public health or public safety, clerical or professional – you work for the well-being of the City and the people who live, work and visit here. Your pay is funded by taxes and fees collected from the City’s citizens, businesses, and visitors.
The public (which includes you, too, in your nonwork hours) is entitled to have you perform your job with honesty and fairness. You give no person extra favors, and give no person any less service, because of a relationship you might have or because of someone’s political views.
You’re also the public face of City government. When you perform ethically and honestly, the public sees that City government operates ethically and honestly, and only in the public’s best interest.
To ensure this evenhandedness, State and City rules, including those described in Rules of the Road, govern your conduct. Generally, the rules cover the following situations:
- Gifts, gratuities, and honoraria
- Invitations
- Financial conflicts of interest
- Outside civic or charitable activities
- Outside employment
- Political activity
- Financial disclosure
You must know and follow the rules. (If you haven’t yet received ethics training from the independent Ethics Board, contact the Ethics Board at (215) 686-9450 or your supervisor.) You can also apply the “six o’clock news” test: would you want the news media to report your actions? If the answer is no, or even “I’m not sure,” then you should refrain from that course of action.
For Elected Officials: Campaign Finance
For Employees during the holiday season.
IntegrityWorks offers guidance for commonly-occurring situations. These are not the only situations in which ethics rules would apply; they are simply the most common ones. Other guidance may be added to this site as situations warrant.
- Someone offers me a gift or a meal or invitation
- Someone offers me a “tip” or benefit in appreciation for my good work
- Either I or a family member may have a financial interest in a decision that I must make at work
- I’d like to get a second job outside of City employment
- I’ve been offered an honorarium to speak in my official capacity
- In my private life, I’m involved as an unpaid volunteer with a community or charitable organization that has a matter before the City
- I want to volunteer for the campaign of a candidate for local, state, or federal office
- I am considering leaving City employment to work for a firm that does business with the City
- I have to file annual financial disclosure forms
- A company or person wants to pitch a product or service to me for the City to buy
These are general guidelines. Because each situation presents its own set of facts, this general guidance isn’t advice on which you can legally rely. If you want to be absolutely sure that your conduct complies with applicable ethics laws, you should seek advice before taking action.
