Other topics most commonly named included conflicting financial interests, post-employment restrictions and impartiality in performing official duties. Image: 3rdtimeluckystudio/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe most common topics of questions that federal employees pose to agency ethics officers relate to outside employment and other activities; acceptance of gifts; and financial disclosure reporting, the Office of Government Ethics has found.
In a survey of ethics officers of 142 agencies, outside employment and activities was one of the three top topics for 94, including 34 where it was the top topic; 36 named gift acceptance as the most frequent among the 90 who put it in the top three; financial disclosure was named the most frequent by 32 of the 75 agencies putting it in the top three.
Other topics most commonly named included conflicting financial interests, post-employment restrictions and impartiality in performing official duties.
Other findings included that in 2023:
* Twenty-two agencies made a total 60 referrals to the Justice Department of potential violations of the conflict of interest statutes or other ethics laws that involve criminal penalties, of which 38 were declined for prosecution and 15 accepted, with decisions on the other 7 still pending.
* Seven agencies took a total of nine disciplinary actions based wholly or in part on violations of criminal or civil statutes, most commonly for violations of the primary criminal conflict of interest statute.
* More than 8,700 employees, four-fifths of them career, performed some ethics-related duties, although only 13 percent of them full-time or close to full-time.
* Two-fifths of agencies reported needing more resources, most commonly personnel, followed by IT.
* More than 99 percent of those required to file publicly viewable financial disclosure forms did so, as did the same percentage of those required to file confidential forms.
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