§ 2636.203 - Definitions.

For purposes of this subpart:

(a) Honorarium means a payment of money or anything of value for an appearance, speech or article. The term does not include:

(1) Items that may be accepted under applicable standards of conduct gift regulations if they were offered by a prohibited source;

(2) Meals or other incidents of attendance, such as waiver of attendance fees or course materials furnished as part of the event at which an appearance or speech is made;

(3) Copies of publication containing articles, reprints of articles, tapes of appearances or speeches, and similar items that provide a record of the appearance, speech or article;

(4) Actual and necessary travel expenses for the employee and one relative incurred in connection with an appearance or speech or the writing or publication of an article. Such travel expenses, when paid, reimbursed or provided in kind by another, shall not be counted as part of an honorarium. Where such expenses are not paid or reimbursed, the amount of an honorarium shall be determined by subtracting the actual and necessary travel expenses incurred in connection with the appearance or speech or the writing or publication of the article;

(5) Actual expenses in the nature of typing, editing and reproduction costs incurred in connection with the making of an appearance or speech or the writing or publication of an article, when paid or reimbursed by another;

(6) Compensation for goods or services other than appearing, speaking or writing, even though making an appearance or speech or writing an article may be an incidental task associated with provision of the goods or services;

(7) Salary, wages and other compensation pursuant to an employer's usual employee compensation plan when paid by the employer for services on a continuing basis that involve appearing, speaking or writing. For these purposes, the term “employment” refers to services rendered in the context of an employer-employee relationship. It does not include any arrangement entered into by the employee or another as an independent contractor or with an agent, speakers bureau or similar entity that facilitates appearances or speaking or writing opportunities;

(8) Compensation for teaching a course involving multiple presentations by the employee offered as part of a program of education or training sponsored and funded by the Federal government or by a state or local government;

(9) Compensation for teaching a course involving multiple presentations by the employee offered as part of the regularly established curriculum of an institution of higher education as defined at 20 U.S.C. 1141(a);

(10) An award for artistic, literary or oratorical achievement made on a competitive basis under established criteria;

(11) Witness fees credited under 5 U.S.C. 5515 against compensation payable by the United States; or

(12) Compensation received for any appearance or speech made or article accepted for publication prior to January 1, 1991, or for any appearance or speech made or article written in satisfaction of the employee's obligation under a contract entered into prior to January 1, 1991.

(13) Payment for a series of three or more different but related appearances, speeches or articles, provided that the subject matter is not directly related to the employee's official duties and that the payment is not made because of the employee's status with the Government.

Example 1.

An employee of the Department of Agriculture has entered into a contract to develop a complex software package for a private company. The contract, which is for a single fee for all work to be provided under the contract, requires the employee to provide 2 hours of oral instruction on use of the program. He may accept the entire fee for performance under the contract. No part of the fee is an honorarium since the 2 hours of instruction is only incidental to his development and delivery of the software package. He could not, however, receive a fee specifically for 2 hours of oral instruction on the use of a program he had earlier provided under a contract that required only his development of a program.

Example 2. A management trainee employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs is employed two nights a week as a reporter on a local newspaper. He may receive a salary for his continuing employment even though it is in a profession characterized by the writing of articles. He may not, however, accept compensation for newspaper or magazine articles written on a freelance basis or pursuant to a contract to furnish 5 articles over a one year period.

Example 3. An economist employed by the Department of the Treasury has entered into an agreement with a speakers bureau to give 10 unrelated after-dinner speeches to be arranged by the speakers bureau with various organizations over a six-month period. The employee may not receive the contract fee of $10,000. The 10 speeches do not constitute a series of speeches, but 10 individual speeches.

Example 4. An attorney employed by the Department of the Air Force may not accept compensation for teaching a two-day seminar on Federal procurement law presented by a publishing company under the sponsorship of an accredited law school. He may, however, accept compensation for teaching procurement law as part of the law school's regular curriculum of courses.

Example 5. An air traffic controller employed by the Federal Aviation Administration has entered into a contract with a magazine publisher to write an article on sheep ranching in New Zealand. In addition to a fee of $500 for the article, the contract provides that the publisher will provide expenses for the employee to travel to New Zealand to conduct research on sheep ranching. The employee may accept the travel expenses, but not the $500 fee. In lieu of the $500 fee, he could not accept expenses to travel to and stay for a weekend in Sydney, Australia after the completion of his research.

Example 6. An employee of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration may accept compensation for a series of three articles on white collar crime she has agreed to write for a local newspaper. While she could not accept compensation for just two articles on white collar crime, she could accept a national journalism award for two articles she had written on an uncompensated basis.

Example 7. A physicist employed by the Department of Energy to conduct research on laser technology may not accept a contract fee for a series of three lectures on lasers where one of the lectures is to focus on the research he is conducting for DOE.

(b) Appearance means attendance at a public or private conference, convention, meeting, hearing, event or other gathering and the incidental conversation or remarks made at that time. Unless the opportunity was extended to the employee wholly or in part because of his official position, the term does not include performances using an artistic, athletic or other such skill or talent or primarily for the purpose of demonstration or display.

Example 1.

Because the fee is for an “appearance”, an employee of the Securities and Exchange Commission who was responsible for a major securities fraud investigation may not accept a fee for standing in the reception line at the premier of a movie entitled “Junk Bond Scandal.”

Example 2. A staff member of the National Security Council does not make an “appearance” by playing the piano and singing at a wedding reception and may accept a fee for his performance.

Example 3. An employee of the Forest Service does not make an “appearance” by modeling in a fashion show and may accept a modeling fee.

(c) Speech means an address, oration, or other form of oral presentation, whether made in person, recorded or broadcast. Unless the opportunity was extended to the employee wholly or in part because of his official position, the term does not include the recitation of scripted material, as for a live or recorded theatrical production, or any oral presentation that is an incident of any performance that is excluded from the definition of an appearance in paragraph (b) of this section. It does not include the conduct of worship services or religious ceremonies.

Example 1.

An attorney employed by the Department of Justice may not receive a $50 honorarium for her informal talk to a local gardening club on how to design and grow a Victorian rose garden. Her talk, though informal, is a “speech.”

Example 2. A nutritionist employed by the National Institutes of Health who is a stand-up comedian by avocation may accept a fee for performing a comedy routine at a dinner theater. His oral remarks do not constitute a speech because they are an incident of his performance using his talent as a comedian. He could not, however, accept compensation for a speech simply because he tells an introductory joke or otherwise amuses his audience.

Example 3. A statistician employed by the Department of Labor who is a lay minister may accept a gratuitous payment of $50 for performing a funeral service since it involves his conduct of a religious ceremony. However, he may not accept a payment for a talk on theology given to other ministers, for offering a prayer at the opening of a convention or for delivering a sermon during a worship service conducted by another minister. He could accept payment for his own conduct of worship services.

Example 4. A price analyst employed by the Defense Fuel Supply Agency may accept a fee of $100 for writing a speech to be delivered by another. The term “speech” includes only oral presentations and does not include writing a speech to be delivered by someone other than the employee. Moreover, the text of a speech is not an article.

Example 5. The stage portrayal of Hamlet by an employee of the Department of State does not involve the making of a “speech.” He may be paid for his role in the Shakespearean production.

(d) Article means a writing, other than a book or a chapter of a book, which has been or is intended to be published or republished in a journal, newspaper, magazine or similar collection of writings. The term does not include works of fiction, poetry, lyrics, or script.

Example 1.

An employee of the Office of Personnel Management who has reviewed a new book about the New York Yankees may not accept a $50 honorarium from the publisher of a sports magazine. The book review is an “article.”

Example 2. The lyrics and music for a college song written by two Department of the Navy attorneys does not constitute an “article.” The attorneys could each accept a gratuitous payment of $50 if the song were selected by their alma mater for publication in its compendium of college songs.

Example 3. An engineer employed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has entered into a contract with an association of electrical component manufacturers to proofread and edit articles submitted by members of the association for publication in its monthly newsletter. The employee may accept the contract fee since the compensation is not for the writing of articles.

Example 4. An accountant employed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation may accept compensation for writing a chapter of a textbook on corporate accounting. A chapter of a book is not an “article.”

(e) Receive means that there is actual or constructive receipt of the honorarium by the employee so that the employee has a right to exercise dominion and control over the honorarium and direct its subsequent use. For purposes of this subpart, an honorarium is received while an employee if it is for an appearance or speech made or any article submitted for publication by that individual while he was an employee. Except when it is paid to a charitable organization in accordance with § 2636.204 of this subpart, an honorarium is received by an employee:

(1) If it is paid to another person on

the basis of designation, recommendation or other specification by the employee; or

(2) If, with the employee's knowledge and acquiescence, it is paid to his parent, sibling, spouse, child or dependent relative.

Example 1.

At the suggestion of the Army officer who authored an article selected for publication in a popular magazine, the publisher paid the amount of its usual honorarium to the officer's husband. The officer has “received” an honorarium.

Example 2. An employee of the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been offered a $500 honorarium for a speech to be given during the week before his scheduled date of retirement from Federal service. Since it is for a speech to be made while he is an employee, he will have “received” the offered honorarium while an employee even though actual payment may not occur until after his retirement.

(f) Charitable organization means an organization which is qualified with respect to deductible charitable contributions under 26 U.S.C. 170(c) because it is organized or operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, educational or another specified purpose. It includes, but is not limited to, an organization exempt from Federal taxation under the authority of 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3).

(g) Travel expenses means the actual and necessary cost of transportation, lodging and meals incurred while away from the employee's residence or principal place of employment in connection with an appearance, speech or article. Where the lodgings and meals portion of travel expenses are paid or reimbursed by another in the form of a per diem or subsistence expense allowance, that allowance shall be treated as actual and necessary travel expenses if the allowance is no more than that customarily paid by the payor to its own officers or employees, provided the employee in fact incurs costs for commercial meals and lodgings on each day for which the allowance is received.