I write as the College’s Ethics Officer concerning the New York State Law governing honoraria and the requirement to report honoraria received between Wednesday, Apr. 1, 2015 and Thursday, Mar. 31, 2016. If you received an honorarium in this period, please complete the appropriate form (links below) and submit it to my office by Friday, May 6, 2016: By mail to Kathleen Galvez, Building 1A, Room 210, or by email to kathleen.galvez@csi.cuny.edu. Should you have any questions in this regard, please contact me at 718.982.2355.
Regulations regarding Honoraria can be found at the Website of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE).
Examples of honoraria include:
-compensation for delivering a speech
-compensation for writing an article
-compensation for a serving on a panel
-compensation that is made as a gratuity or an award of honor
Links to the appropriate forms are as follows:
–For faculty (full- and part-time)
Please note: Honoraria are reported to the College, which does not need to report honoraria to JCOPE. Reports are retained by the College for three years.
To assist you in this process, please see the recent memorandum from Frederick Schaffer, the University’s General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs, which at page 3 distinguishes between the requirements for faculty and non-faculty, as follows:
HONORARIA
All CUNY employees are required to comply with the law and regulations
governing the receipt and reporting of honoraria, regardless of their
designation as a policymaker (see Title 19 NYCRR Part 930: Honoraria,
effective June 2014 …
JCOPE generally defines honorarium as “a speaking fee or compensation
received from writing an article, or reimbursement for travel expenses not
related to official duties.”
CUNY Employees Not Employed in Academic Titles
Non-academic employees of CUNY must seek prior approval in order to
accept honoraria and must report the receipt of honoraria to their
College’s ethics officer. Two factors to keep in mind:
1. Honoraria cannot be accepted for speaking or writing in an area
that is related to the employee’s CUNY duties.
2. Honoraria cannot be received from a disqualified source
(generally defined as an entity or individual seeking to do or actually doing
business with CUNY, such as vendors, would-be vendors, unions, etc.).
CUNY Faculty: Full-time and Adjunct
CUNY faculty are exempt from the restrictions on the receipt of honoraria.
This exemption means:
1. CUNY faculty do not need to seek approval to receive honoraria.
2. CUNY faculty may receive honoraria from a disqualified source.
However, CUNY faculty must still report the receipt of any and all
honoraria. The exemption for academic positions does not relieve faculty
from the reporting requirement.
JCOPE, while defining honoraria as compensation for work unrelated to an
employee’s official duties, nonetheless does not exempt faculty from
reporting receipt of all speaking fees; reimbursed travel expenses; or
payments received for writing and/or presenting written materials.
If you have any questions, please contact me at 718.982.2355 or by email at kathleen.galvez@csi.cuny.edu.
