The Office of Government Ethics has sent two memos to agencies calling attention to ethical restrictions pertinent to a change in administrations, when there commonly is higher than normal turnover among career employees along with the replacement of political appointees.
One notes that the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK Act) bars all executive branch employees from using nonpublic information for private profit; engaging in insider trading; or intentionally influencing an employment decision or practice of a private entity solely on the basis of partisan political affiliation. The law also bars those subject to making public financial disclosures from participating in an initial public offering and from “participating in a particular matter directly and predictably affecting the financial interests of any person with whom the official has, or is negotiating for, an agreement of future employment or compensation.”
The other memo notes that under the STOCK Act a public filer who is negotiating for or has an agreement of future employment or compensation must file a statement notifying an agency ethics official of such a negotiation or agreement within three business days after commencement of the negotiation or agreement.
A public filer who files such a notification statement also must file a recusal statement whenever there is a conflict of interest or appearance of a conflict of interest with respect to the entity identified in the notification statement, it says.
“Public filers are encouraged to file the notification and recusal statement before negotiations have commenced and before an agreement of future employment or compensation is reached to facilitate receiving advice from their agency ethics officials. Public filers who elect to file the notification and recusal statement with all required information before negotiations begin do not need to refile after commencing negotiations or reaching an agreement,” it says.
Those requirements apply not only to employment situations but to compensation for other services such as speaking engagements or a book deal, it adds.
