As a Federal employee, you are subject to the regulations governing seeking employment and post-employment. While you are seeking employment, working for an outside entity, or have accepted a position and plan to leave Federal service, there are some issues to understand, e.g., that you cannot be involved in any official activities which may affect those outside entities. The following documents provide guidance for seeking employment and post-employment prohibitions. For an analysis of your specific situation, contact your IC's Ethics Officials (see link below).
- HHS Summary of Post-Employment Restrictions, October 2011 by OGC/ED (pdf, 1 page). The summary discusses the main post-employment restrictions. It also provides the salary threshold for designating senior status for purposes of post-employment analyses, and the additional restrictions and exceptions available to senior staff. In this context, "senior" applies to employees across the executive branch, and has no relationship to the definition of "NIH Senior" as defined in the HHS Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct. Government-wide senior, see also the next document.
- Additional Post-Employment Restriction and Exception for Government "Senior" Employees: The Government-wide definition of "senior" is based on salary, and is not the same definition as the NIH designation of senior based on the HHS Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct (see 5 CFR 5501.110(b)(1)). Employees whose salary, excluding locality adjustments, equals or exceeds 86.5% of the rate of basic pay for Level II of the Executive Schedule (for 2012, that level is $155,441) are designated as "senior employees" and are subject to the one-year post-employment cooling-off period described in 18 USC 207(c). This document details the current salary threshold and explains the additional prohibition, and the exception to the prohibition.
- Understanding the Revolving Door: How Ethics Rules Apply to Your Job Seeking and Post-Government Employment Activities: Issued by OGE, this pamphlet provides a general discussion about how the Federal ethics laws and restrictions may affect individuals, both while looking for a job and after leaving the Government. (pdf, OGE web site) Also available in text format.
- Rules for the Road: Issued by OGE, this pamphlet provides brief summaries of 18 U.S.C. § 207, 18 U.S.C. § 203 and the Procurement Integrity Act, and alerts employees to some other possible sources of post-employment restrictions. (OGE web site)
- Summary of Post-Employment Restrictions of 18 U.S.C § 207, Attachment to OGE DEAOgram DO-04-023, 7/29/04 (OGE web site)
- Seeking Employment (in the private sector) (DAEOgram DO-04-029, OGE web site)
( OGC/ED approved 2/13/10) Format Revised: 2/13/12
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