Off duty employment during sequestration

  • Published
  • By Peter Babcock
  • 66th Air Base Group Office of the Judge Advocate
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  With the potential for civilian furloughs in the near future, many people are considering possible outside employment as a way to make up for lost income. While Air Force civilian employees and military members are allowed to have second jobs, there are certain limitations and requirements to keep in mind.

First, there are certain activities that are prohibited due to your federal employment. These rules are based on criminal statutes and any violation could result in prosecution. They include the following:

· You are not allowed to work for or have a financial interest in a company if the decisions you make in your government job could directly affect that company.

· You cannot represent an individual, company or other non-federal organization before any federal agency. This rule does not apply to enlisted personnel. Prohibited representation activities include:
· Signing agreements with the Department of Defense or any other federal agency.
· Signing reports, memoranda, grants or other applications, letters, or other materials intended for submission to any federal agency or tribunal.
· Signing tax returns, other than your own, for submission to the Internal Revenue
Service.
· Arguing before or speaking to (with the intent to influence) any other federal employee
who is acting in his official capacity or before any federal agency in connection with any
matter involving the United States.

Other prohibitions on outside employment are set out below;

Teaching, Speaking, or Writing Activities

Federal employees cannot be paid by a non-federal source for teaching, speaking, or writing that relates to your official duties. For example, you may not:

· Accept honoraria for speaking or writing that you were assigned to do by your agency as an official duty.
· Teach, speak or write if you were invited primarily because of your official position
rather than your expertise.
· You were invited by a person or entity whose interests may be affected by your
official duties.
· The information conveyed draws substantially on ideas or official data that are
nonpublic information.
· However, you can be paid for teaching a course requiring multiple presentations, even
if you were invited because of your official position and the course would draw on
matters that are part of your official duties, if the course is offered as part of the regularly
established curriculum of an institution of higher education.

Reporting and Approval of Outside Employment

All Air Force Materiel Command personnel must obtain prior written approval of off-duty employment, including self-employment; AFMC Policy Directive 51-2, Off-Duty Employment, 27 Jun 96; AFMC Instruction 51-201, Off-Duty Employment, 15 Dec 04.

For non-AFMC employees the general rule is that those who file the OGE 450 Confidential Financial Disclosure or OGE 278 Public Financial Disclosure and all military members are required to get prior approval, although other Major Commands may have their own instructions which impose additional requirements. Similarly, certain career fields have additional requirements, such as those set out in AFI 44-102, Medical Care Management, 20 Jan 12, para. 1.9, off-duty employment by health care providers:

Use AF Form 3902 for all such approval requests.

What to Remember With Any Outside Job

Employees are not to use official time or Government property, including your Government computer, Blackberry, telephone, or other office equipment, for your activities with an outside employer or to pursue outside business interests, e.g. such as working as an independent real estate agent, CPA, or attorney.

Do not disclose or misuse any information that is not generally available to the public.

Do not solicit other employees during working hours or in federal facilities, except for officially approved events, e.g. Combined Federal Campaign. However, this does not preclude office collections for fellow workers or passive activities such as "For Sale" notices on unit bulletin boards. This restriction does not apply to conducting labor organization membership drives during lunch periods or after duty hours.

Do not use your public office for private gain.

Please consult an ethics counselor for guidance if you are unsure whether your proposed job or outside activity would be in violation of these rules. For Hanscom Air Force Base, email ethics inquiries to ethics@hanscom.af.mil or call 781-225-0139. In addition, Ethics Resources are available at https://org.eis.afmc.af.mil/sites/escja/EthPub/default.aspx.