on occasion, individuals may find themselves in moral and ethical dilemmas in making decisions about involvement in activities that may create or appear to create a conflict with the interests of the Laboratory.

Conflicts occur when outside activities or interests might have the potential to interfere with effective job performance or impair the judgment or ability of individuals to act in the best interests of the Lab. Admittedly, outside business activities such as consulting for others can be of benefit to the employee and to the Lab. However, in all business dealings one must exercise prudent judgment to avoid situations where one's loyalties may be divided or questioned, particularly in situations involving sensitive procurement, intellectual property, personnel decisions, and outside employment activities.

In all business dealings one must be ever mindful to minimize the potential for conflict of interests by conforming to established standards of professional business conduct and integrity. Further, company policy requires the disclosure of any outside business association and annual resubmission of requests to engage in outside business activities. Last December, Hermann Grunder issued a memorandum to all employees that summarized some of the Lab's basic principles with regard to conflict of interests.

As a reminder, they are as follows:

• Competing and conflicting professional interests between the individual staff member and the Laboratory will be resolved in favor of the Laboratory.
• Preferential treatment resulting or arising from employment must = be avoided; therefore, even when there is not real conflict of interest, the appearance of one must also be avoided.
• Any work done for the Department of Energy or DOE contractors is considered "on the clock" and no additional payments may be accepted for such work. Any other work must be done "off the clock."
• The Laboratory's resources (equipment, machinery, computers, stationery, clerical help, etc.) may not be used for outside interests. The Administrative Manual can provide answers to questions on the Lab's Conflict of Interest policy and guidelines.

Merle Rivas, Employee Relations Manager