Scrutiny Reveals Fund with Tighter Ethics Code
May 21, 2011, Financial Times

As Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), currently faces charges of alleged sexual assault, increased scrutiny of the fund's governance and culture has also been on the rise. On May 6, 2011, the IMF's staff code of conduct was revamped, now requiring that "any supervisor who has an intimate relationship with a subordinate report it to a manager so concerns about fairness or conflicts of interest can be addressed."

Donald Dowling Jr, a partner in international employment law at White & Case in New York, said the IMF's code of conduct was "more in line with a US domestic approach".

However, he said a US code of conduct would usually require staff to report any workplace relationship, rather than just one between a subordinate and a superior, and would also require anyone experiencing harassment to report it.

Mr. Dowling said US multinationals were well advised to adapt their codes of conduct for Europe, highlighting the problem for an international institution such as the IMF. In countries such as Switzerland or France you "either get pushback or rampant non-compliance" with demands to disclose all workplace relationships, he said.