Advisory Opinion No. 98-150

Re: Richard H. Nichols, Theresa Nichols, Donna M. Waterman, Joann Upielawski,

Margaret B. Chenel, Linda Briggs and Joan Andrews

QUESTION PRESENTED

The Petitioner, President of Local 528 for AFSCME, Council 14, requests an advisory opinion on behalf of University of Rhode Island (URI) employees, state employee positions, as to whether they may accept tips for working at private weddings held at URI’s Alton Jones Campus.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that University of Rhode Island (URI) employees, state employee positions, may accept tips for working at private weddings held at URI’s Alton Jones Campus. Given that the decision to impose a service fee upon private parties to provide for such tips rests with URI management and not with the affected employees, no provisions of the Code of Ethics are implicated.

The Petitioner advises that the University of Rhode Island (URI) will impose a service fee upon private parties who hold wedding receptions at URI’s Alton Jones Campus in order to provide tips for all employees who work at such functions. The employees who will receive the proceeds derived from the service fee are salaried state employees. The tips are in addition to the employees’ salaried wages. He indicates that the decision to impose such a service fee was made by URI management, not by the affected employees. Under the Code of Ethics, public employees may not participate in any matter in which they have an interest, financial or otherwise, which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of their duties in the public interest. See R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 36-14-5(a), 36-14-7(a). Public employees also are prohibited from using their public positions or confidential information received through their positions to obtain financial gain, other than that provided by law, for themselves. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(d).

Here, the affected employees exercise no decision-making authority regarding the imposition of service fees or the method for allocating the proceeds from the service fees. Further, since URI management specifically has provided for such tips, through imposition of a service fee, they may be deemed to be part of the employees’ regular wages. Therefore, the Commission concludes that the Code of Ethics does not bar URI employees from accepting tips, provided through a University imposed service fee, for working at wedding receptions held at the Alton Jones Campus.

Code Citations:

36-14-5(a)

36-14-5(d)

36-15-7(a)

Related Advisory Opinions:

98-133

98-22

95-105

95-86

Keywords:

Discretionary authority