HES Policies

The History of Economics Society (the organization) requires officers and employees to observe high standards of business and personal ethics in the conduct of their duties and responsibilities. As employees and representatives of the organization, we must practice honesty and integrity in fulfilling our responsibilities and comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

Reporting Responsibility

This Whistleblower Policy is intended to encourage and enable employees and society members to raise serious concerns internally so that the organization can address and correct inappropriate conduct and actions. It is the responsibility of all Executive Committee members, officers, employees and volunteers to report concerns about violations of the organization’s code of ethics or suspected violations of law or regulations that govern the organization.

No Retaliation

It is contrary to the values of the organization for anyone to retaliate against any Executive Committee member, officer, employee or volunteer who in good faith reports an ethics violation, or a suspected violation of law, such as a complaint of discrimination, or suspected fraud, or suspected violation of any regulation governing the operations of the organization. An individual who retaliates against someone who has reported a violation in good faith is subject to discipline up to and including termination of employment.

Reporting Procedure

The organization has an open-door policy and suggests that individuals share their questions, concerns, suggestions or complaints with a member of the Executive Committee. Committee members are required to report complaints or concerns about suspected ethical and legal violations in writing to the the full Executive Committee, who has the responsibility to investigate all reported complaints.

The organization’s Executive Committee is responsible for ensuring that all complaints about unethical or illegal conduct are investigated and resolved. The committee will resolve complaints on an as-needed basis; especially on matters pertaining to compliance activity relating to accounting or alleged financial improprieties.

Acting in Good Faith

Anyone filing a written complaint concerning a violation or suspected violation must be acting in good faith and have reasonable grounds for believing the information disclosed indicates a violation. Any allegations that prove not to be substantiated and which prove to have been made maliciously or knowingly to be false will be viewed as a serious disciplinary offense.

Confidentiality

Violations or suspected violations may be submitted on a confidential basis by the complainant. Reports of violations or suspected violations will be kept confidential to the extent possible, consistent with the need to conduct an adequate investigation.

Handling of Reported Violations

The organization’s Executive Committee will notify the person who submitted a complaint and acknowledge receipt of the reported violation or suspected violation. All reports will be promptly investigated and appropriate corrective action will be taken if warranted by the investigation.

Definition: A conflict of interest is defined as an actual or perceived interest by a staff member or society member in an action that results in, or has the appearance of resulting in, personal, organizational, or professional gain.

Disclosure: Any possible conflict of interest must be disclosed to the Executive Committee by the person or persons concerned. An unannounced conflict of interest may be made known by any person to the Executive Committee at any time by any means of communication.

Record of Conflict: The nature of all conflicts of interest, and the resulting mitigations and actions taken by the society and any other person involved in the conflict, will be documented in the society’s records, including meeting minutes.

Committee of Action: When a conflict of interest is relevant to a matter requiring action by theExecutive Committee, the interested person(s) will call it to the attention of the society and the interested person will be prohibited from voting on the matter. The Executive Committee may recuse a person in the case of a conflict by majority vote.

Document Destruction

The Document Retention and Destruction Policy identifies the record retention responsibilities of staff, volunteers, members of the Executive Committee, and outsiders for maintaining and documenting the storage and destruction of the society’s documents and records.

The society’s staff, volunteers, members of the Executive Committee, committee members and outsiders (independent contractors via agreements with them) are required to honor the following rules:

a. Paper or electronic documents indicated under the terms for retention in the following section will be transferred and maintained by the Secretary on behalf of the Executive Committee;

b. No paper or electronic documents will be destroyed or deleted if pertinent to any ongoing or anticipated government investigation or proceeding or private litigation (check with legal counsel or the human resources department for any current or foreseen litigation if employees have not been notified); and

c. No paper or electronic documents will be destroyed or deleted as required to comply with government auditing standards (Single Audit Act).

d. The Secretary, in conjunction with the society manager, is responsible for depositing nonfinancial documents in the society’s archives on a regular basis.

e. The Treasurer, in conjunction with the society manager and accountants, is responsible for depositing financial documents in the society’s archives on a regular basis.

Record Retention

The following table indicates the minimum requirements from the National Council of Nonprofits and is provided as guidance in determining the document retention policy.