Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of pieces that will look at the rules and laws governing federal employees’ political activities as we head into the midterm elections.
With the fall season comes football, pumpkin-flavored everything and Election Day. This year it's the highly anticipated midterm elections, and federal employees may be tempted to get involved by making political donations, campaigning for a candidate, attending rallies or just chatting about politics with co-workers.
Federal civilian employees need to be careful, however, not to run afoul of the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activity while on the job, even for those working remotely. How severely it restricts activities depends on your job. In the first installment of our election ethics series, we will break down how federal employees are grouped with respect to the Hatch Act. Future pieces will look more closely at what employees within each group can and can’t do.
Less Restricted
Most federal employees fall into the less restricted category and have a “fairly long” list of partisan political activities in which they can participate while they’re not on duty, Debra D’Agostino, founding partner of the law firm Federal Practice Group, previously wrote in Government Executive.
For employees in this category, the long-standing rules have been: don't engage in political activity while at the workplace or on duty. Also don’t engage in this kind of activity in an official capacity...
WANA (Oct 04) – Iran’s permanent mission to international organizations in Vienna has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran had been producing drugs at its nuclear facilities, des...