South Carolina Law (Section 59-101-700) now requires employees of South Carolina public institutions of higher education to disclose any business with which they are associated outside of their university employment.
Key changes
The law requires all employees (including student employees) to disclose any business with which they are associated, regardless of if they believe it creates a conflict of interest.
The law defines “businesses with which [the employee] is associated” as a business, trade, profession, membership, appointment, elected position, or other commercial activity conducted for compensation outside an employee’s official institutional duties.
This disclosure does not prohibit outside business activities, though restrictions continue to depend on other state laws and institutional policies. This law only requires the reporting of such activities.
Completing the disclosure
Faculty and staff will be asked to complete the disclosure during the annual Conflict of Interest Training. All faculty and staff were enrolled in the course through Workday Learning.
The disclosure will ask employees to provide the name of the business they are associated with, and a general description of the type of work or services they perform.
All information will be stored in a secure, confidential manner.
If an employee has already completed annual required training, but did not complete the disclosure or submitted without including outside business activities, they may update their disclosure through InfoEd.
All disclosures must be completed by the annual required training deadline of November 10, 2026.
Student employees will receive direct communications with instructions on how to complete the disclosure. Supervisors of student employees will also be informed of the requirement. Student employee disclosures must be completed no later than December 15, 2026.
Additional resources
Additional information about this requirement is included in this year’s Conflict of Interest training course in Workday Learning.
Faculty, staff and student employees may also visit the Conflict of Interest Knowledge Center for answers to frequently asked questions like:
- “What are examples of outside business activities?”
- “How often must I report this information?”
- “Does reporting an outside business activity mean I have a conflict of interest?”
