Ethics

Public service is a public trust.

Former Employees

Post-Employment Ethics Restrictions

The post-employment ethics statute, 18 U.S.C. § 207, applies to a former postal employee’s communications with the Postal Service or the Federal government on behalf of the former postal employee’s private sector employer. Former postal employees should contact the Ethics and Legal Compliance team for advice before communicating or otherwise interacting with the Postal Service or the Federal government on behalf of their private sector employer because this criminal law could be implicated.

The following are Section 207’s main restrictions:

A former postal employee is permanently prohibited from interfacing, communicating, or attending meetings with the Postal Service on behalf of his or her new employer about a postal contract, agreement, pilot project, or initiative that the former postal employee managed or substantially worked on as a postal employee for the life of the contract, agreement, pilot project, or initiative.

Example

A Postal Service employee worked on a postal contract with Chocolate Chip, Inc. The employee decides to leave the Postal Service and seek employment with Chocolate Chip, Inc. Chocolate Chip, Inc. hires the former postal employee to manage the contract with the Postal Service. Pursuant to the lifetime ban, the former postal employee is prohibited from interfacing, communicating, or attending meetings with the Postal Service about the Chocolate Chip, Inc. contract for the life of it. However, the former employee could work behind the scenes on the Chocolate Chip, Inc. contract without contacting the Postal Service. If Chocolate Chip, Inc. were to negotiate an entirely new contract with the Postal Service, the former employee could communicate with the Postal Service about the new contract.

A former postal employee is prohibited for two years post-separation from interfacing, communicating, or attending meetings with the Postal Service on behalf of his or her new employer about a postal contract, agreement, pilot project, or initiative that was under the employee’s official responsibility during the last twelve months of her postal employment.

  • “Official responsibility” means the direct administrative or operating authority, whether intermediate or final, and either exercisable alone or with others, and either personally or through subordinates, to approve, disapprove, or otherwise direct government actions.

Example

A Postal Service employee’s subordinate staff managed an initiative with Caramel Vanilla, Inc. for twelve months prior to the employee’s departure from the Postal Service. The former postal employee eventually accepted a position with Caramel Vanilla, Inc. The former postal employee could not communicate, interface, or attend meetings with the Postal Service about the Caramel Vanilla, Inc. initiative for two years post-separation. However, the former postal employee could work behind the scenes on the Caramel Vanilla, Inc. initiative without contacting the Postal Service.

A former senior employee is prohibited for one year from communicating, interfacing, or attending meetings with the Postal Service on behalf of her new employer about any matter.

  • Whether a former employee is a "senior employee" depends on their rate of basic pay during their last year of service.

Example

A former senior postal employee recently retired from postal employment. The former senior postal employee invites his postal best friend to play golf. He also invites a postal contracts manager to lunch to discuss postal business opportunities. This restriction does not apply to purely social contact and activities, so the former senior postal employee could play golf with his postal best friend. However, the former senior employee could not discuss postal business opportunities with the postal contracts manager for one year post-separation.

Additional restrictions - There are additional post-employment restrictions for certain employees, or for specific types of matters. For additional information on these less common restrictions, please contact the Ethics and Legal Compliance team at 202-268-6346 or via email at ethics.help@usps.gov.

18 U.S.C. § 207, 5 C.F.R. § 2641