You may face severe penalties if you violate the City's conflicts of interest rules. Under your agency's disciplinary process, you may be suspended for some period or even fired. A violation of the Conflicts of Interest Law is also a crime, a misdemeanor that the District Attorney's office may prosecute. Upon conviction, you may be fined and sent to jail and lose your City job. The Conflicts of Interest Board may also void any contract or transaction that violates the Conflicts of Interest Law.
All complaints are confidential.
Back to Top Whistleblower Protection City employees who file reports of possible ethical violations are protected by the Administrative Code of the City of New York Section 12-113, commonly called the Whistleblower Statute. This law was designed to prevent retaliation in the form of any adverse personnel action by one City employee against another who reports corruption, criminal activity, or a conflict of interest. Or maybe you have been offered the opportunity to teach at a university that you suspect does business with the City, and you are not sure if there is a conflict of interest with your City job. Or say you want to interview with a company with which you have had dealings as your agency's representative or that the company's representative wants to give you an expensive gift, in appreciation. You think that there may be conflicts of interest in these situations, and you would like legal advice.