A federal employee who has an arrangement for future employment with a state’s unemployment agency should not participate in an investigation of that agency’s parent agency. Image: Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock.com
The Office of Government Ethics has issued guidance clarifying the obligations of federal employees to recuse themselves from decisions involving past or pending employment with state or local governments.
OGE noted that it previously had said that the employees with prior employment with a state agency must recuse themselves only from decisions affecting that agency. It gave as an example a federal employee who previously worked for a state’s labor department who is asked to review a claim involving that state’s department of transportation; in that situation, there is no “covered relationship” and no obligation for the employee to recuse himself or herself.
The guidance clarifies that those standards apply to employment with local government as well.
In another example, it added that a federal employee who has an arrangement for future employment with a state’s unemployment agency should not participate in an investigation of that agency’s parent agency.
In addition, it says, employees who had worked in certain high-level state and local entities—such as the governor’s office, the mayor’s office, the state legislature, the city legislature, and the state’s highest court—have recusal obligations extending to the whole state or local government. Further, for attorneys previously affiliated with a state attorney general’s office, the recusal obligation extends to all agencies of that state government unless specific permission is given.
It says that similar considerations apply to state and local government employees who work temporarily for the federal government under Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignments.
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