UI employees required to complete ethics training
All UI employees at the Urbana and Springfield campuses and in University Administration will be required to complete the annual online ethics training between Sept. 15 and Oct. 16. Training for all graduate assistants and all Chicago campus employees will be Oct. 27-Nov. 29. All permanent university employees are required to complete the ethics-training program each calendar year in compliance with the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act (5 ILCS 430) enacted in December 2003. New hires are required to complete the training within six months of employment. The program is administered online by the UI Ethics Office through the Illinois Executive Inspector General’s Ethics Training and Compliance Center. The University Ethics Office will e-mail each employee with details about the training program, including login instructions and default passwords, just prior to the start of the program. Employees are encouraged to complete the program during the first two weeks of the training window during regularly scheduled work hours. If computers are not available within the work unit, employees may go to computer labs on campus to complete the online program. Employees who do not know how to use a computer, do not have access to a computer or do not have anyone to assist them with the online course should contact their supervisor or the University Ethics Office to arrange for off-line training at 866-758-2146. Undergraduate student employees and temporary extra help are required to complete a pamphlet version of the training that can be downloaded at www.ethics.uillinois.edu/training/saeh.html. In 2004, the first year of training, the UI achieved a compliance rate of more than 96 percent. For 2005, the University Ethics Office developed a reporting tool that allows units to monitor their employees’ status with regard to completing the training and follow up with the employees if they have not completed the program. President Joe White said: “I expect all employees to complete their training as scheduled to attain 100 percent compliance this year. Not only does the law require full compliance, but it’s a good idea to renew, as individuals and as a community, our commitment to the highest ethical standards. Training is not an option; it is the law.” By law the University Ethics Office is required to report the names of employees who fail to complete the ethics training to the Inspector General and the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission. The commission may levy a fine of up to $5,000 against employees who disobey the law. Failure to complete the training may be taken into account during annual performance evaluations and may be cause for disciplinary action by the university.
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