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OGE finalizes Standards of Conduct modernization, clarifies gifts, impartiality and social‑media guidance
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Summary
Office of Government Ethics officials said the finalized modernization — expected to be published in April with a 90‑day implementation window — restructures gift rules (including gifts between employees and WAG definition), adds disposition guidance, harmonizes impartiality examples, and codifies social‑media/title guidance.
David Apoll, general counsel for the Office of Government Ethics, and Seth Jaffe, chief of the Ethics Law and Policy Branch, summarized a finalized modernization of the federal Standards of Conduct that the agency expects to publish in April and make effective 90 days after publication.
Apoll opened the briefing by noting the rule package is large — "the red line...it's a 110 pages long" — and said OGE will publish a legal advisory alongside the final rule "to give you a road map to the most significant changes." He said OMB has cleared the publication and OGE is completing Federal Register steps.
Seth Jaffe described a set of global technical edits intended to improve readability and consistency: removing gendered language and unnecessary references to marital status, standardizing punctuation and capitalization, and replacing terms such as "disqualify" with "recuse." He said the agency added many new examples addressing issues that did not exist in 1992, including use of social media.
Major substantive or practice‑oriented changes highlighted at the briefing include:
- Gifts between employees (Subpart C): OGE added examples and clarified exceptions. Jaffe said the rule makes explicit that a preexisting personal relationship does not override gift restrictions and added bereavement to the list of special/frequent occasions. He also described an updated exception scope so that the employee receiving a gift "must not be the official superior of the employee giving the gift."
- Prohibition on superiors accepting gifts: The modernization makes the restriction reciprocal — explicitly adding language that an official superior "may not knowingly accept" a gift from a subordinate unless an exception applies.
- Disposition guidance for employee-to-employee gifts: OGE added a new subsection permitting agencies to consult Subpart B disposition methods (cited in the rule as 2635.206 paragraphs (a)(1)–(3)) when determining appropriate disposal of prohibited gifts received from other employees; OGE said those methods are not mandatory but provide a helpful reference.
- Impartiality and family relationships (Subpart E): OGE harmonized treatment of employers of parents and children in its impartiality examples so that adult children and parents are treated consistently when assessing whether a covered relationship exists; the agency emphasized these are 5 U.S.C. 502 considerations that generally require an employee’s judgment rather than automatic recusal.
- §503 (payments from former employers): The rule retains the $10,000 threshold for payments that can require a two‑year recusal from party matters, clarifies when a written policy counts as a "qualified program," and removes prior wording that limited the rule to payments made only before entering government service (OGE said §503 can apply to payments made after entry into government service as well, and such payments may raise separate 18 U.S.C. 209 issues).
- Misuse of position and social media (Subpart G): OGE clarified that letters of recommendation are not limited to employment and that similar communications (emails, other advocacy) fall under the same constraints; guidance on listing job titles on social media profiles was incorporated into the rule (OGE reiterated that including a job title in biographical information is not per se a violation but improper use of title can still violate the regulation).
Apoll reiterated that most updates are intended to improve clarity and training rather than change longstanding substance. "We will be issuing a legal advisory that'll kinda give you a road map to the most significant changes," he said, and reminded agencies they will have 90 days after publication to update training and policies.
The briefing closed with OGE opening the floor to questions; Apoll said Q&A would be streamed but not retained in the agency’s public libraries to promote a more candid exchange.
Ending: OGE officials said the rule is cleared for publication, will be accompanied by a legal advisory and reference slides on the OGE website, and will be effective 90 days after publication to allow agencies time for implementation.
