All employees of The City University of New York must comply with the ethics requirements set forth in the New York State Public Officers Law and its implementing regulations. COELIG Executive Law § 94 expanded the live ethics training requirement to all New York State employees (this includes all full-time and part-time employees, including adjuncts and graduate assistants — regardless of whether or not you file an annual Financial Disclosure Statement).

The law addresses topics such as conflicts of interest, political activity, improper use of state resources, honoraria, compensation for outside activities, financial disclosure requirements and gifts. The agency that enforces the law is the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG.) In addition, CUNY employees are required by this law to receive regular training on the ethics laws.

All New York State employees are required to complete COELIG Ethics training every calendar year.

There are two courses that comprise the statewide ethics training initiative:

1. The Comprehensive Ethics Training Course (CETC) is a live, instructor led training that is the only course that satisfies the live ethics training requirement mandated in Executive Law § 94. New hires are required to complete the CETC within the first 90 days of beginning their state employment.Employees are required to complete the CETC every other calendar year.

   You may enroll ineither:
   CETC hosted by City Tech’s Office of Legal Affairs; or
   CETC hosted by COELIG

2. The On-Demand Ethics Refresher Course (OERC). Employees are eligible to complete an ODEC every other calendar year — the alternating years during which they are not completing the CETC.

NOTE: Employees are not eligible to take an OERC if they have not completed a CETC during the previous calendar year.

During the alternating calendar year (i.e. the calendar year they are not required to take the live CETC) employees have the option of taking a live CETC or taking the OERC to satisfy their annual ethics training requirement.

Please contact legal@citytech.cuny.edu if you have questions about your specific deadline. 

CETC Training Hosted by COELIG:

To register for a COELIG Ethics training, please visit COELIG’s Training Calendar and use COELIG’s Self-Enrollment Class Registration Portal to register for a session.

On-Demand Ethics Refresher Course (OERC) hosted by COELIG Registration for the on-demand training is now available directly through COELIG. Please go to On-Demand Ethics Training | New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, and click Enroll Now, to register.

You will need the following information to register:  

• Your agency code: City Tech 70120
• Your N# — Please note that this ID# is not the same as your EMPLID. Your N# can be found on your paystub.
• Your First and Last Name
• When entering your “First Name”, please enter your full first name -- do not abbreviate, shorten, or include your preferred name.
• Please include the name on your government-issued ID and/or employee paystub.
• Your City Tech email address

To receive course credit, enter the two code words that will appear during the training, in the designated form fields.  After you have successfully viewed the video in its entirety, you will receive a system-generated completion email at the email address you provided.

Note: If your employee profile is in the COELIG system,your training record will automatically be updated, and a system-generated email confirmation will be sent to you and your ethics officer. If your employee information isnotin the COELIG system, please maintain a copy of the email confirmationandforward that email to legal@citytech.cuny.edu for record keeping.

CETC Training Hosted by City Tech:

The Office of Legal Affairs will provide notifications to all employees when dates are scheduled for virtual or live sessions. However, employees should avail themselves of the COELIG-hosted trainings.

Chief Counsel Sandra Gordon serves as the Ethics Officer for the College. If you have any questions about whether any activity (such as outside employment or acceptance of gifts) is consistent with the New York State ethics requirements, whether and how to file a Financial Disclosure Form (applicable only to certain employees), or any other issue touching on ethics, please contact the Ethics Officer. The Ethics Officer also conducts mandated ethics trainings for College employees.

New York State ethics requirements

Creating a NYS ID — Employees who are required to file a Financial Disclosure Form (FDS), need a NYS.gov ID.
Learn how to obtain this ID and link it to the FDS system.

Policy on Reporting Alleged Misconduct

Report of Alleged Misconduct

Attendance Certification Comprehensive Ethics Training Course (CETC) Form