Federal employees seeking off-duty employment need approval

  • Published
  • By Mark Wyatt
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Defense Department employees who seek secondary employment must get approval from their unit commander or director before taking on the additional work.

The requirement comes from Department of Defense 5500.7-R, The Joint Ethics Regulation, which outlines specific guidelines military members and DOD civilians must follow when seeking off-duty employment.

The regulation states that, "Approval shall be granted unless a determination is made that the business activity or compensated outside employment is expected to involve conduct prohibited by statute or regulation."

Military and federal civilian employees are required to complete AF Form 3902, Application and Approval for Off-Duty Employment. The form includes a recommendation by the supervisor and base Legal before the unit commander or director approves.

“The Legal office reviews to ensure that employees aren’t accepting a position that could cause a conflict with Air Force interests,” said Capt. Marc G. Nevins, assistant to the staff judge advocate.

And while Legal reviews to ensure there are no conflicts of interest, supervisors consider if the employee can take on the additional workload.

“It’s important that those interested in off-duty employment decide whether or not they can handle the extra work,” said Capt. Robert Saulter, assistant staff judge advocate and chief of Civil Law at Hanscom. “They need to make sure that their responsibilities here are taken care of first, because the Air Force mission will always come first.”

JA officials suggest that those interested begin the application process at least two weeks prior to starting off-duty employment.

For further information regarding this requirement, employees are encouraged to speak with their chain of command and review the guidelines in DOD 5500.7-R and Air Force Instruction 44-102.