# Presentation: 430430

## Slide 1

## 1999 USDA Ethics Training

- Post-Employment Restrictions
- Seeking Employment
-  Financial Disclosure    via the Ethics Web Site
- Political Activity

## 1999 USDA Ethics Training

- Post- Employment

- Restrictions

## Post-Employment Rules Applicable to Everyone

- Lifetime restriction on representing anyone on a particular matter involving a specific party or parties on which you had a personal and substantial participation.
- Two-year restriction on representing anyone on a matter for which you were responsible during your last year of employment.

## Post-Employment Rules Applicable to Trade Negotiators

- One-year ban on representing _or_ advising any person using non-public information regarding ongoing trade negotiations in which you participated.
- Five-year restriction on _non-career_ trade negotiators exist under the pledge signed pursuant to Executive Order 12834.

## Post-Employment Rules Applicable to Senior Employees

- One year “cooling off” for all Executive Schedule and SES levels 5 and 6 -- a _Department-wide_ bar on representation and a _government-wide_ ban on representing or advising any foreign entity.
- Five-year agreement on _non-career_ Executive Schedule or SES levels 5 and 6 or trade negotiators not to represent anyone before the USDA or advise a foreign entity.

## Post-Employment Rules Applicable to Procurement Officials

- One-year bar on accepting compensation from a contractor if you personally worked on the matter and its value exceeded $10 million.
- Ban on disclosing information regarding bids or selection criteria before an award is made.

## Post-Employment Rules Applicable to those going into a Partnership

- Come talk to us - there is no easy explanation.

## 1999 USDA Ethics Training

- Seeking Employment

## Seeking Employment - The Rule

- One may not participate in a particular matter that will have a direct and predictable impact on the financial interests of a person with whom he or she is negotiating for, or has arrangements for, future employment.
- This is a criminal conflict of interest - even less direct ties can create a breach of the regulatory impartiality rule.

## Seeking Employment  Definitions

- Negotiations means both sides engaged
- Prospective employer means both the principal and any intermediary
- Direct and predictable impact means the same here as it does with conflicting financial interest holdings
- Impact can flow from either performance or non-performance of one’s duties

## Seeking EmploymentThe Remedy

- Self disqualification - i.e., no longer participating in the matter - a recusal.
- Notification - at a minimum, apprise the person who made the assignment, but include also coworkers working on the same matter.
- Written recusal mandatory only for PAS’s, but not a bad idea for anyone.

## Seeking Employment Conclusion of Search

- If negotiations terminate with finality, you reject the job offer, or you are rejected by the prospective employer.
- Deferring negotiations _does not_ wash the conflict, even if ordered by your superior.

## 1999 USDA Ethics Training

- Financial Disclosure 	  	Reporting 		via the    Ethics Web Site

## Financial Disclosure ReportingSpreadsheet Options

- Lotus 1-2-3, Excel & Quattro-Pro
- Variety reflects software diversity in USDA
- Advantage - storable - can be used next year by entering only the changes
- Disadvantage - a little intimidating to non-technical users

## Financial Disclosure Reporting“Fillable” PDFs by Adobe Acrobat

- Advantage - more universal on the web (used also by IRS) and simpler for the user.
- Disadvantages -
- Not storable - once completed and printed out, the entries vanish even if filed to disk.
- Print too large and blocks too small to hold much of a description

## Financial Disclosure ReportingThe Future

- True Internet Reporting over a _secure_ connection.
- Advantages - single method, tie-in with NFC’s pin-accessed Personal Page, no need to submit paper copy.
- Disadvantage - must first secure OGE’s approval.

## Political Activity

## Political Activity by PASs

- More permissive than for any other class of employees; however, one:
-  _may not _solicit contributions
- _may not_ be paid for activity by a candidate or political committee
- _may not_ solicit or accept uncompensated voluntary political services of a subordinate

## Political Activity by PASs

- Other issues to be attentive to:
- allocating official and campaign travel - the hard time formula at 5 CFR 734.503
- the contribution limits of the FECA- 2 USC 441a - www.fec.gov
- access to the Office of Special Counsel - www.osc.gov & hatchact@osc.gov