Ethics and the DRP

DRP Ethics Chart (PDF, 137 KB)

Ethics in Brief: Ethics Laws & Administrative Leave under the DRP (PDF, 269 KB)

Do the Federal Ethics rules apply to employees who are in an Administrative Leave Status (also known as “Admin Leave”)?

Generally, all of the Federal Ethics rules continue to apply to all employees who are on Administrative Leave status. During the time that a federal employee is on an Administrative Leave status, the employee continues to be a federal employee, and therefore is subject to federal ethics rules. The Standards of Conduct, at 5 C.F.R. § 2635.102(h), provides that “status as an employee is unaffected by pay or leave status.” This means that even though an employee on Admin Leave is not reporting to work, the Federal Ethics rules still apply with the same effect.

Outside Employment while on Admin Leave

The Ethics rules (at 5 CFR § 2635.802), prohibit an employee from engaging in outside employment or an outside activity that conflicts with his/her official duties. An activity conflicts with an employee's official duties:

(a) If it is prohibited by statute or by an agency’s supplemental regulation; or

(b) If, under the standards set forth in 5 CFR §§ 2635.402 and 2635.502, it would require the employee's disqualification from matters so central or critical to the performance of his/her official duties that the employee's ability to perform the duties of his position would be materially impaired.

The potential for an outside employment conflict is dependent on the nature of the employee’s assigned duties (if any) here at USDA, as well as the nature of their outside employment. If the employee is not assigned official duties during their admin leave, the conflicts of interest statute (18 USC 208), would not be implicated, nor would there be a conflict with the employee’s official duty hours. As such, the employee could generally engage in outside employment without running afoul of the ethics rules.

Representational Restrictions

Additionally, although the employee is on admin leave pending resignation, he is still employed by the federal government. Accordingly, 18 USC 203 & 205, criminal laws that impose restrictions on outside activities involving representation of others before the Federal Government, still apply. Section 203 prohibits a Federal Government employee from receiving compensation based on anyone’s representations before a Government department, agency or officer in relation to any particular matter, such as a contract or claim, in which the United States is a party or has a substantial interest. In addition, section 205 bars the same activity even if no compensation is received. 18 USC 205 would prohibit a federal employee from representing the interests of a nonfederal entity before a federal department, agency or officer, even if they were on admin leave. If the employee’s outside work did not require them to interact with federal personnel, however, the representation rules would not come into play.

Post Employment

Once the employee officially terminates their federal employment, the post employment restrictions imposed by 18 USC 207, will apply. These rules are extremely fact-specific and resources pertaining to the post employment restrictions can be found on the USDA Office of Ethics Post Employment and Seeking Employment page.