POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS ON…

               POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS
                   ON SENIOR EMPLOYEES
Are there any restrictions on a former          In Commerce, what is considered a
employee after leaving Federal service?         senior employee's "agency"?
 P Yes. A former employee is barred              P For a Senate-confirmed Presidential
from representing others before a Federal       appointee, the agency is the entire
agency or Federal court regarding:              Department; for other senior employees
  R any matter involving specific, identified   the agency is the Office of the Secretary,
parties (such as a contract or grant) on        OIG, and ESA (other than Census) or the
which he or she worked and                      employee's operating unit (BIS, Census,
  R for two years after leaving the             EDA, MBDA, NIST, NOAA, NTIA, NTIS,
Government, any specific-party matter           ITA, or USPTO).
under his or her official responsibility
during the last year of service (such as a      Are there any additional restrictions on
matter on which a subordinate worked).          former senior employees?
                                                 P Yes. A former employee is restricted
Are there additional rules that apply to        from using nonpublic information,
"senior" employees?                             receiving payments for the
 P Yes. A former senior employee (an            representational activities of others that
employee with an annual base pay of             took place during the period of the former
$148,953 or more) is barred for 1 year          employee's Federal service (such as
from:                                           through a law partnership), and testifying
  R representing anyone before his or her       related to the former employee's
former agency and                               Government work. Furthermore, there
  R advising a foreign government (or           are additional restrictions that apply to:
representing a foreign government before        attorneys (under state bar rules),
any Branch of the U.S. Government)              employees who receive a buy-out
                                                (regarding re-employment with the
What is "representing"?                         Government), procurement officials,
 P Any contact with a Federal official on       EDA employees (regarding working for a
behalf of someone else to influence             grantee), and USPTO employees
Government action is "representing."            (regarding obtaining a patent).

  Ethics Law and Programs Division, Office of the Assistant General Counsel for
             Administration, United States Department of Commerce
              202-482-5384 ­ ethicsdivision@doc.gov ­ January 2, 2008

                        A WORD ABOUT ETHICS