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Disclosure by Non-Elected State Employee (MA 268A)

Instruction for disclosure by non-elected state employee under G.L. c. 268A, § 6 

Financial interest in a particular matter

Form revised February 2012

When to use the § 6 Disclosure Form

You are an appointed or non-elected state employee, as defined by G.L. c. 268A, § 1(q). Your duties require you to participate in a particular matter, or you may wish to participate in the matter. You may not participate in the matter because one or more of the following individuals or entities listed below has a financial interest in the matter:

  • You;
  • Your immediate family member (you and your spouse, and each of your parents, children, brothers and sisters);
  • Your business partner;
  • A business organization for which you are serving as an officer, director, trustee, partner or employee;
  • A person or organization with whom you are negotiating or have made an arrangement about prospective employment.

You must file a § 6 Disclosure with your appointing authority describing the particular matter, your responsibilities in relation to it, and the financial interest that is preventing you from participating.

Your appointing authority must file a § 6 Determination indicating whether you, another employee, or your appointing authority will perform your duties with respect to the particular matter. You may not participate unless your appointing authority files a written determination allowing you to do so.

If your duties as a state employee otherwise would not require you to participate in the particular matter, you may abstain and do not have to file a § 6 disclosure. You may need to inform your appointing authority or agency that you will not participate. 

Participation in a particular matter

In the disclosure, you must explain in what way you participate in a particular matter.

A particular matter is any judicial or other proceeding, application, submission, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, decision, determination or finding.

You are expected to participate through approval, disapproval, decision, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation or otherwise.

Explain in what way you are required to participate – e.g., reviewing a proposal, approving an application, deciding about a grant; making a recommendation about a budget, providing advice about a case, conducting an investigation, performing a task or taking an action – in relation to the particular matter.

Financial interest

In the disclosure, you must explain the financial interest that prevents you from participating in a particular matter. You should include the dollar amount of the financial interest, if known.

A financial interest must be direct and immediate or reasonably foreseeable (and not remote, speculative or not sufficiently identifiable), and may be large or small, positive or negative – a gain or loss, a benefit or an obligation.

For example, a financial interest exists when the outcome of a particular matter may:

  • Cause or prevent a financial gain or loss;
  • Create or eliminate a financial opportunity; 
  • Determine who will make decisions affecting your or an immediate family member’s wages, hours or working conditions as a state employee.

Abutters and owners of nearby property: The following people are presumed to have a financial interest in a particular matter regarding real estate:

  • An abutter;
  • An abutter to an abutter within 300 feet of the property line;
  • A person who may suffer an injury in fact which is different in kind or magnitude from that suffered by members of the general public.

Competitors: Your business interest will have a financial interest if the outcome of a particular matter would affect the financial interests of a competitor in a way that would likely decrease or increase your business or the business of your immediate family, your partner, or your private employer.

Filing the 6 Disclosure and Determinatinon

For the state employee

Sign your completed Disclosure and Determination form and submit it to your appointing authority.

For the appointing authority

The § 6 Determination gives you three choices about who should perform an employee’s duties when the employee cannot participate in a particular matter because of a financial interest. Check off one of the three choices listed. File the completed Disclosure and Determination with the State Ethics Commission. Provide a copy of the completed Disclosure and Determination to the employee. Keep a copy of it as a public record.

If you need advice about completing the disclosure, please call the Attorney of the Day at (617) 371-9500 or e-mail the State Ethics Commission at opinions@eth.state.ma.us.