§ 2635.802 - Conflicting outside employment and activities.

§ 2635.802 Conflicting outside employment and activities.

An employee shall

(a) Employees may not engage in outside employment or any other outside activity that conflicts with

his

their official duties. An activity conflicts with an employee's official duties:

(

a

1) If it is prohibited by statute or by an agency supplemental regulation; or

(

b

2) If, under the standards set forth in §§ 2635.402 and 2635.502, it would require the employee's

disqualification

recusal from matters so central or critical to the performance of

his

their official duties that the employee's ability to perform the duties of

his

the Government position would be materially impaired.

(b) Employees are cautioned that even though an outside activity may not be prohibited under this section, it may violate other principles or standards set forth in this part or require the employee to

disqualify himself

recuse from

participation

participating in certain particular matters under either subpart D or

subpart

E of this part.

Example 1

:An employee of

to paragraph (b): A biochemist, who conducts research at the Environmental Protection Agency

has just been promoted. His principal duty in his new position is to write regulations relating to the disposal of hazardous waste. The employee may not continue to serve as president of a nonprofit environmental organization that routinely submits comments on such regulations. His service as an officer would require his disqualification

(EPA), has an outside consulting business providing technical guidance on the handling of hazardous materials. The biochemist would like to apply for a different EPA position, for which the principal duty would be writing regulations on the handling of hazardous materials. If the biochemist gets the position, the work would have a direct and predictable effect on the outside consulting business. Because the biochemist would be required to recuse from duties critical to the performance of

his

official duties on a basis so frequent as to materially impair

his

their ability to perform the duties of

his position

the position, they could not continue to operate the outside consulting business.

Example 2 to paragraph (b): An employee of the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration who was and is expected again to be instrumental in formulating new OSHA safety standards applicable to manufacturers that use chemical solvents has been offered a consulting contract to provide advice to an affected company in restructuring its manufacturing operations to comply with the OSHA standards. The employee should not enter into the consulting arrangement even though he is not currently working on OSHA standards affecting this industry and his consulting contract can be expected to be completed before he again works on such standards. Even though the consulting arrangement would not be a conflicting activity within the meaning of § 2635.802, it would create an appearance that the employee had used his official position to obtain the compensated outside business opportunity and it would create the further appearance of using his public office for the private gain of the manufacturer

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reviews applications for recognition of tax-exempt status. Several years ago, the employee became involved with a neighborhood group that transports stray animals to nearby adoption centers. As its activities expanded, the group created a formal organization, and submitted an application for recognition of tax-exempt status by the IRS. Under the circumstances, the employee should be recused from participating in any IRS determination regarding the tax-exempt status of this organization. However, the employee's involvement with the organization would not be prohibited by this section, because the outside activity would have a limited effect on official duties and would not require recusal from matters so central or critical to the performance of official duties that the ability to perform the duties of the position would be materially impaired.