Government Ethics and the Hatch Act: Federal Rules

Name: Government Ethics and the Hatch Act: Federal Rules
Rating: 5.0 (5 reviews)

Master the 14 ethics principles, gift rules, conflicts of interest, financial disclosure, and political activity limits

Role Play

Created byShamir George

Last updated 7/2026

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Recite all 14 Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch under 5 CFR 2635
Apply the gift rules to real workplace scenarios including the key exceptions and aggregation limits
Identify conflicts of interest and impartiality obligations under 18 U.S.C. 208 and 5 CFR 2635.502
Recognize misuse of position violations including improper use of government resources and nonpublic information
Complete financial disclosure obligations correctly under OGE Form 278 and OGE Form 450 requirements
Navigate outside employment and activity rules including teaching, writing, speaking, and compensation limits
Apply post-employment revolving door restrictions under 18 U.S.C. 207 to former federal service situations
Determine what political activities are permitted and prohibited for federal employees under the Hatch Act

Course content

7 sections • 37 lectures • 2h 47m total length

Why Ethics Rules Exist: The Public Trust Doctrine3:33
Why does a career civil servant need a rulebook at all when most of them are honest? This lecture answers that by tracing the idea that public office is a public trust from the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 through Executive Order 12674 (as modified by E.O. 12731) to the unified standards at 5 CFR Part 2635. The tension it resolves is the one that puzzles every new employee: why the appearance of impropriety is policed as hard as actual wrongdoing. You will see that these rules exist not to trap dedicated people but to protect three things at once — the institution, the public's confidence in it, and the individual employee whose career can be ended by a rule they simply never knew applied to them.
The 14 General Principles of Ethical Conduct5:16
If someone handed you a situation no specific regulation seemed to cover, how would you know what the right call is? The answer lives in the fourteen general principles of 5 CFR 2635.101, and this lecture walks through all of them in plain language — from never using public office for private gain, to acting impartially without preferential treatment, to protecting federal property and disclosing waste and fraud. The story here is that these are not soft aspirations: they carry regulatory weight and are the lens ethics officials and OGE use to interpret every specific rule that follows. Master them and you gain a portable instinct for the gray areas the detailed rules never anticipated.
Who Enforces Ethics: OGE, Your DAEO, and the Agencies That Watch4:38
When you have an ethics question at 4pm on a Friday, who actually answers it — and who has the power to hold you accountable if you get it wrong? This lecture introduces the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, the independent agency created by the 1978 Act and reauthorized in 1988, which sets government-wide policy, issues binding regulation, and oversees the disclosure system. It then brings the question home to the person who matters most in your daily life: your agency's Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO), your first call for any real situation. The tension resolved here is the confusion learners feel about a crowded field of acronyms — OGE, DAEO, later OSC and the Inspector General — by making clear who does what and where you go first.
The Three Bodies of Federal Ethics Law: A Map Before the Territory5:06
Federal ethics is not one law but three overlapping regimes, and learners get lost because nobody draws the map first. This lecture provides that map: the standards-of-conduct regulations at 5 CFR Part 2635 (the everyday rules), the criminal conflict statutes at 18 U.S.C. 201–209 (the ones that carry prison time), and the Hatch Act at 5 U.S.C. 7321–7326 (political activity, enforced by a different agency entirely). The tension it resolves is why some violations mean a stern email from your DAEO while others mean an FBI referral. By the end you can locate any conduct question within the correct body of law before you try to answer it — the single habit that prevents most costly mistakes.
Seeking and Documenting Ethics Advice: Your Best Legal Protection3:56
Here is the counterintuitive heart of federal ethics: the employees who get in trouble are rarely the ones who asked first. This lecture resolves the fear that asking a question makes you look suspect by showing the opposite — that good-faith reliance on written advice from your agency ethics official is a recognized protection that can shield you even if the advice later proves wrong. You will learn how to frame a question so the answer actually covers you, why oral guidance is weaker than a written record, how OGE and OSC advisory opinions work, and why 'I checked with ethics and here is the email' is the strongest sentence a federal employee can say. This lecture reframes the entire course as a toolkit, not a minefield.
Section 1 Quiz: The Foundation of Federal Ethics
Quick Question Before Tomorrow's Panel

Recognizing a Conflict Before It Becomes a Problem3:51
A conflict of interest almost never announces itself — it hides inside an ordinary assignment until someone else names it. This lecture teaches you to spot the risk early by distinguishing the two standards that trip people up: the actual financial conflict prohibited by the criminal statute 18 U.S.C. 208, and the lower appearance standard that triggers recusal under 5 CFR Part 2635 Subpart E. The tension it resolves is the belief that good intentions are a defense; they are not. If a reasonable person knowing the facts would question your impartiality, the standard is met regardless of what is in your heart — and understanding that early is what keeps a manageable situation from becoming a headline.
The Criminal Conflict Statute: 18 U.S.C. § 208 in Plain Language4:48
Most ethics rules are administrative; this one can send you to prison — so why do so few employees actually understand it? This lecture demystifies 18 U.S.C. 208, the criminal prohibition on participating personally and substantially in a particular matter that affects your own financial interest, or the interests of your spouse, minor child, employer, or an organization you serve. The tension resolved is the gap between how serious the statute is and how routine the situations that trigger it can be — a stock holding, a job negotiation, a family business. You will learn exactly what 'particular matter,' 'personally and substantially,' and 'financial interest' mean, so you can recognize the line before you cross it rather than after.
Covered Relationships: When Personal Connections Enter Official Work6:04
You do not leave your family, your former employer, or your nonprofit board seat at the door when you badge into a federal building — so how do the rules account for that reality? This lecture maps the 'covered relationships' of 5 CFR 2635.502: your spouse, parents, siblings, children and their spouses; anyone with whom you have or seek a business or financial relationship; organizations where you serve as member, officer, or director; and any employer, client, or business partner from the past year. Using concrete cases — the former law-firm partner, the spouse's employer, the board seat — it resolves the anxiety of 'is this too close?' by giving you a clear test for when a relationship makes your participation look compromised, and the recusal it requires.
The Impartiality Standard and the Reasonable Person Test4:18
Even with zero money at stake and no criminal exposure, you can still be required to step aside — and employees find that maddening until they understand why. This lecture explains the impartiality rules of 5 CFR 2635.501–503, which turn on whether a reasonable person with knowledge of the facts would question your objectivity in a particular matter involving a covered relationship. The tension it resolves is the difference between this appearance standard and the financial standard of 208: one protects the government's money, the other protects the public's confidence. You will see how ethics officials weigh the concern and how a written authorization to participate anyway can be granted — a safeguard that protects both you and the decision's integrity.
Managing Conflicts: Recusals, Waivers, and Ethics Agreements6:06
Discovering a conflict does not have to mean quitting the assignment — or the job — so what are your actual options? This lecture walks through the formal machinery for managing conflicts without losing your role: voluntary recusals that create a documented screen anyone can request at any time; statutory waivers under 18 U.S.C. 208(b) when an agency certifies the interest is too small to affect your integrity; and ethics agreements, the divest-or-recuse commitments incoming appointees make before they start. The tension resolved is the false choice between 'participate and risk everything' or 'withdraw entirely.' You will leave knowing there is almost always a documented middle path — and that documenting it is what protects you later.
Section 2 Quiz: Conflicts of Interest and Impartiality
SolarBridge Loan File Check-In

What Actually Counts as a Gift? The Surprisingly Broad Definition4:32
Before you can follow the gift rules you have to know what a 'gift' even is — and almost everyone guesses too narrowly. This lecture works through 5 CFR 2635.203(b), where a gift means any gratuity, favor, discount, entertainment, hospitality, loan, forbearance, training, transportation, lodging, or meal with monetary value, whether given in kind, by ticket, by advance payment, or by later reimbursement. The tension it resolves is the instinct that only wrapped presents count. You will also learn the narrow exclusions — modest refreshments that are not a meal, items owed to a genuine personal relationship, things of trivial value like a greeting card — so you can tell a true gift from a non-gift before any exception even enters the picture.
Prohibited Sources and the 'Because of Your Position' Rule3:55
Why can a stranger buy you a coffee but a friendly contractor cannot? This lecture answers that by unpacking the two overlapping bans in 5 CFR 2635.202: gifts from 'prohibited sources' — anyone seeking action from, doing business with, or regulated by your agency, or whose interests your work can affect — and gifts given 'because of' your official position, even from people with no business before the agency at all. The tension it resolves is the fuzziness between a genuine personal kindness and a gift that quietly implicates one of these prohibitions. You will get a repeatable analysis for drawing that line, because the difference is rarely obvious in the moment when someone is holding out something nice.
The $20/$50 Exception and the Rest of the Escape Hatches4:07
The gift ban sounds absolute, so how do federal employees ever accept a conference tote bag or a slice of pizza at an industry event? This lecture takes you through the exceptions of 5 CFR 2635.204, led by the famous de minimis rule: unsolicited gifts of $20 or less per occasion from one source, capped at $50 aggregate from that source per calendar year, with cash and investment interests excluded no matter how small. Beyond the dollar rule it covers gifts based on a bona fide personal relationship, items offered to the whole public or all employees on equal terms, and other named categories. The tension resolved is 'the rule says no but reality says yes' — by showing that the exceptions are real, but each has precise conditions you must actually meet.
Gifts Between Employees: The Superior-Subordinate Rules4:08
The office holiday collection and the retirement card seem harmless — so why do they generate real violations every December? This lecture covers the separate regime of 5 CFR Part 2635 Subpart C, which generally bars giving a gift to your official superior and bars supervisors from accepting gifts from subordinates or from any group that includes one. The tension it resolves is the collision between ordinary workplace warmth and a rule most people have never heard of. You will learn the limited exceptions — infrequent personal occasions like a wedding or a new baby, personal hospitality at a residence, and voluntary group-gift contributions capped at $10 per person on occasions of special significance — so you can join the farewell party without becoming the cautionary tale.
Travel, Widely Attended Gatherings, and Teaching, Speaking, and Writing5:05
Being invited to keynote a conference on the sponsor's dime feels like a career highlight — until you wonder whether accepting it is even legal. This lecture tackles the high-frequency, high-anxiety zone the gift rules only glance at: attending widely attended gatherings when your agency determines participation is in its interest, accepting travel and lodging tied to official duties, and the rules on teaching, speaking, and writing in a personal capacity under 5 CFR 2635 Subpart H. The tension it resolves is the blur between a legitimate professional opportunity and a disguised gift or misuse of position. You will learn when free travel is acceptable, when you may be paid for outside writing or teaching, and the compensation lines you cannot cross.
Gift Scenarios and the Four-Step Decision Framework4:28
All the rules in the world are useless in the moment a vendor slides a box-seat ticket across the table — so how do you decide, right there, with confidence? This lecture makes the gift rules concrete through OGE-drawn scenarios: the contractor's fruit basket, the lobbyist grabbing the lunch tab, the sporting-event ticket, the foreign-government presentation. It gives you a portable four-step framework — identify the giver's relationship to your agency, value the item, check every applicable exception, escalate to ethics when anything is unclear — and closes the tension of 'what if I already accepted it?' by walking through 5 CFR 2635.205: return it, pay fair market value, or dispose of it. You leave able to run the analysis in real time, not in hindsight.
Section 3 Quiz: Gifts, Hospitality, and Travel
Vendor Gifts Before Friday's Award

Why Disclosure Exists: Transparency as Conflict Prevention4:53
The disclosure form feels like pure bureaucracy — so why does the government demand this much of your private financial life? This lecture reframes the paperwork by showing what it is actually for: it is the primary early-warning system for catching conflicts before they compromise a decision. Grounded in the Ethics in Government Act (now largely at 5 U.S.C. 13101–13111), E.O. 12674, and 5 CFR Part 2634, it traces how the regime was strengthened after each high-profile ethics failure. The tension it resolves is resentment of the intrusion, by demonstrating how ethics officials turn your reported data into personalized protection — recusal guidance, ethics agreements, and divestiture flags that keep you out of trouble you would never have seen coming.
The OGE Form 450: Confidential Disclosure for Covered Positions4:27
You are not a Senate-confirmed appointee, so why did HR just hand you a financial disclosure form? This lecture explains the OGE Form 450 — the confidential report required under 5 U.S.C. 13109 and 5 CFR Part 2634 Subpart I of employees with real decision-making power over contracts, grants, or regulation. It walks the reporting categories (assets and income, liabilities, outside positions, agreements, gifts, and reimbursements), the value thresholds, and the crucial distinction between what you must report and what you must actually avoid doing. The tension it resolves is the fear that disclosure equals confession: the 450 is confidential under the Privacy Act, not public, and reporting an interest is not an admission that anything is wrong — it is the mechanism that keeps it from becoming wrong.
The Public Report: The SF-278 / OGE Form 278e for Senior Officials4:38
For senior officials the stakes of disclosure change entirely — because the whole country can read it. This lecture covers the public report, the SF-278 filed electronically as the OGE Form 278e, required of Senate-confirmed appointees, certain SES members, and other high-level policy officials paid at or above GS-15 Step 1. It explains why the public form goes further than the 450: reporting specific dollar ranges rather than mere existence, capturing a spouse's and dependent children's interests, and — the fact every senior official must internalize — remaining publicly available for six years. The tension it resolves is naivety about exposure: for these roles, a sloppy or incomplete filing is not a private error but a public and lasting reputational event.
Deadlines, Extensions, and the Penalties for Getting It Wrong4:19
Disclosure is one of the few ethics duties with hard dates attached — so what actually happens if you blow one? This lecture lays out the full calendar for both forms: new-entrant reports generally within 30 days, annual confidential 450s by February 15, annual public reports by May 15, and termination reports for public filers within 30 days of departure. It covers the extension process and the ethics official's authority to grant more time. The tension it resolves is uncertainty about consequences, by naming them plainly: administrative action for late confidential filings, civil penalties up to $50,000 for a knowing and willful failure to file the public report under 5 U.S.C. 13106, and criminal referral for intentional falsification of either form.
The Errors That Sink Filers — and the Checklist That Prevents Them6:22
Most disclosure problems come not from hiding assets but from honest oversights — so which ones actually get people in trouble? This lecture examines the mistakes OGE and agency officials see most: forgetting a spouse's holdings, mis-valuing an asset or picking the wrong range, overlooking an unpaid nonprofit board seat, omitting consulting income or rental property, and misreading which threshold applies to which category. The tension it resolves is overconfidence — the belief that because you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to check. You will leave with a pre-submission checklist mindset: systematically review every financial interest across your entire household against your specific form's obligations before you certify, because 'I forgot' is not a defense the process recognizes.
Section 4 Quiz: Financial Disclosure
Pre-Certification Review: OGE 450 Conflict Check

Misuse of Position: Authority, Endorsements, and Nonpublic Information3:03
Your title carries weight — so what happens when you use it, even a little, for yourself? This lecture covers the four misuse-of-position prohibitions in 5 CFR 2635.702–705: coercing or inducing benefits through your official authority, using nonpublic information for private gain, endorsing products or services in a way that implies government backing, and trading on your title in outside activities. The tension it resolves is how ordinary the violations look — a LinkedIn bio leaning on an official title, a quiet request for VIP treatment because you work for the agency. You will see exactly where using who you are shades into misusing what you are, so the small conveniences of the job never quietly become the reason you lose it.
Government Resources and Official Time: Using What Belongs to the Public4:10
Printing a personal document or checking a private email at your desk feels too trivial to be an offense — but where is the actual line? This lecture covers the rules of 5 CFR 2635.704–705 on government computers, phones, vehicles, facilities, supplies, and paid work time. The tension it resolves is the gap between what your agency quietly tolerates as 'de minimis' personal use and what is categorically forbidden no matter who says otherwise — using resources for outside employment, fundraising, or partisan political activity. You will also learn why misuse of resources and misuse of position so often surface together in the same investigation, which is exactly why fluency in both is the difference between a harmless habit and a disciplinary file.
Outside Employment: What Is Allowed, What Needs Approval, What Is Banned4:30
A federal job does not forbid a side gig — so why do so many moonlighting employees still end up in trouble? This lecture explains the framework of 5 CFR Part 2635 Subpart H: outside work is generally fine unless it conflicts with your duties, requires nonpublic information, or involves representing private parties before the government — and unless your own agency's supplemental rules under 5 CFR 2635.803 require prior approval you did not seek. The tension it resolves is the assumption that off-the-clock means off-the-hook. You will learn the factors ethics officials weigh, why your agency's rules may be stricter than the baseline, and why the safest second job starts with a request for approval, not an apology afterward.
The Impartiality Trap in Outside Life: Boards, Family Firms, and Side Ventures3:15
Your unpaid seat on a charity's board or your spouse's growing business seems entirely separate from your federal role — so how does it keep pulling you into recusals? This lecture connects outside activities back to the impartiality and covered-relationship rules, resolving the tension employees feel between a rich outside life and a clean official one. Using cases — the industry association you advise, the family firm that bids on contracts, the startup you invested in — it shows how outside commitments quietly create matters you must step away from at work. You will learn to audit your own outside entanglements the way an ethics official would, so a rewarding personal venture never becomes the reason you cannot do the job you were hired for.
The Duty to Report: Whistleblowing, IG Channels, and No-Retaliation4:09
Ethics is not only about your own conduct — so what do you owe when you see someone else crossing the line? This lecture covers the affirmative duty to disclose waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption embedded in the fourteen principles, and the protected channels for doing it: your agency's Inspector General, the Office of Special Counsel, and the disclosure rights safeguarded by the Whistleblower Protection Act. The tension it resolves is the fear that reporting a colleague ends your career. You will learn what conduct you are obligated to report, how to route a disclosure so retaliation is unlawful, and why a healthy ethics program depends on employees who understand that silence, too, can be a violation.
Section 5 Quiz: Misuse of Position, Resources, and Outside Work
Ethics Review: Weekend Consulting Request

The Framework: 18 U.S.C. § 207 and the Rules That Outlive Your Badge4:41
Your last day of federal service feels like a clean break — so why can a phone call you make months later become a federal crime? This lecture lays out the layered structure of 18 U.S.C. 207, on the books since 1962 and implemented at 5 CFR Part 2641: a permanent bar on matters you worked on personally, a two-year bar on matters under your responsibility, a one-year cooling-off period for senior employees, and enhanced restrictions for the very senior. The tension it resolves is the assumption that leaving means freedom. You will learn that 207 is criminal — up to five years' imprisonment — and, crucially, that it restricts representing others back to the government, not simply working in your old field.
The Lifetime Ban: Matters You Personally and Substantially Worked On4:58
Of all the post-employment rules, one never expires — so which of your government projects will follow you for the rest of your life? This lecture dissects 18 U.S.C. 207(a)(1), the permanent bar on knowingly communicating to or appearing before the government, with intent to influence, on behalf of someone else, in a particular matter involving specific parties that you worked on personally and substantially. The tension it resolves is scope confusion: this ban covers specific-party matters, not broad policy or rulemaking, and it applies at every pay grade, forever. You will learn precisely what 'particular matter,' 'personally and substantially,' and 'intent to influence' capture, because this is the single rule every departing employee must clear before signing any private engagement.
The Two-Year Restriction and the Senior Employee Cooling-Off Period4:59
What about a matter you never personally touched but that sat under your authority — is that fair game the day you leave? This lecture covers the time-limited bars of 18 U.S.C. 207. Under 207(a)(2), every former employee is barred for two years from representing anyone on a particular matter that was actually pending under their official responsibility in their final year — even matters they never worked on. Under 207(c), former 'senior employees' face an added one-year bar on any representational contact with their old agency on anything at all. The tension it resolves is the belief that only your own projects are restricted; you will learn how seniority is determined and how the two-year and one-year clocks overlap in real careers.
Very Senior Officials and the Broadest Restrictions4:18
For those who served at the very top, the revolving door swings hardest — so how far does the restriction reach when you leave a Level I or II position? This lecture covers 18 U.S.C. 207(d), which bars former 'very senior employees' for two years from representational contact not just with their old agency but with senior officials across the entire executive branch, and 207(b), which bars those who worked on trade or treaty negotiations from representing foreign parties on them for a year. The tension it resolves is the difference between 'senior' and 'very senior' status and what the government-wide reach means in practice. You will see how top officials build post-government careers in law, consulting, and lobbying inside these unusually wide constraints.
Ethics Pledges, Advisory Opinions, and Leaving the Smart Way4:49
The statute is only the floor — so what happens when an administration makes you sign a pledge that goes further, and how do you plan a departure that clears all of it? This lecture explains how executive ethics pledges layer additional lobbying bans on political appointees beyond 18 U.S.C. 207, and untangles how 'lobbying' under the Lobbying Disclosure Act differs from 'representational communication' under 207 — overlapping but not identical. The tension it resolves is the risk of relying on a general impression of the rules when your freedom is at stake. You will learn why requesting a written OGE or agency advisory opinion before you accept any government-facing role is the single best professional decision you can make on your way out the door.
Section 6 Quiz: Post-Employment: The Revolving Door
GrainBridge Trading - Advisor Discussion

The Hatch Act: History, Purpose, and Why OSC — Not OGE — Enforces It4:16
Why is there an entirely separate law, and a different agency, governing what federal employees do at the ballot box and online? This lecture traces the Hatch Act of 1939 (5 U.S.C. 7321–7326) from the patronage abuses that provoked it — employees pressured for contributions and votes by the bosses who controlled their jobs — through the liberalizing 1993 Reform Amendments. The tension it resolves is constitutional: how to protect an impartial civil service without erasing federal workers' First Amendment rights. It also clears up a source of real confusion by establishing that the Office of Special Counsel, not OGE, investigates and prosecutes Hatch Act violations — so you know exactly where to turn for guidance or to report a concern.
What Counts as Partisan Political Activity — and What Doesn't3:46
You can vote, you can hold opinions, you can put a sticker on your car — so where exactly does protected political life become a Hatch Act violation? This lecture draws that line using 5 U.S.C. 7322 and 5 CFR Part 734. It defines the load-bearing terms: what makes an election 'partisan,' who counts as a 'candidate,' what 'official authority or influence' means, and what separates a 'political contribution' from ordinary speech. The tension it resolves is the fear that any political expression is forbidden. You will map the clearly permitted — registering, private opinions, a bumper sticker, attending a rally as a private citizen — against the categorically banned — soliciting contributions, directing subordinates, and using your authority to affect an election.
Two Tiers of Coverage: Further Restricted vs. Less Restricted Employees4:35
Before you can know what you may do politically, you have to know which kind of federal employee you are — so which tier are you in? This lecture explains the split created by 5 U.S.C. 7323 and 7324. 'Less restricted' employees — most of the civilian workforce — may take part in off-duty partisan activity, support candidates, and volunteer on campaigns, subject to firm limits on fundraising and use of authority. 'Further restricted' employees — career SES, administrative law judges, FEC staff, and intelligence personnel — face much tighter limits and may never be candidates in a partisan election. The tension it resolves is applying the wrong tier's rules to yourself. You will learn how to place yourself correctly and why the distinction exists at all.
Social Media and the Hatch Act: What You Can and Cannot Post3:20
A like, a share, a repost from your own couch on your own phone — how did the Hatch Act end up governing that? This lecture translates OSC's platform guidance for Facebook, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn into rules you can apply before you tap 'post.' The core carries over from the physical world: no partisan activity while on duty, in a federal building, or on a government device or account — and that fully covers social media done on government equipment. The tension it resolves is the false sense that a personal account is a free zone. Off duty you have latitude, but you still may not solicit contributions, may not invoke your official title in partisan posts, and must think before you amplify content that could read as an endorsement or an ask.
Fundraising, Candidacy, and Enforcement: The Bright Lines and the Penalties4:06
Some Hatch Act rules have no gray zone at all — so which ones will end a career fastest, and what happens when they are broken? This lecture sets the brightest lines: under 5 U.S.C. 7323(a)(2), soliciting or receiving political contributions is prohibited in any form, at any time, on or off duty — and 'solicitation' is broader than an explicit ask, reaching a forwarded fundraising link. It covers candidacy rules (flatly barred for further restricted employees), the ban on using any workplace resource for a campaign, and the OSC enforcement path: investigation, findings, and discipline from reprimand through removal, with MSPB adjudicating contested cases and 5 U.S.C. 7326 authorizing penalties up to $1,000 and five-year debarment. It closes by pointing you to OSC's free, confidential advisory service.
Capstone: Thinking Like an Ethics Official Across the Whole Framework5:51
You have learned six bodies of rules from four different agencies — so when a real, unlabeled situation lands on your desk, how do you actually decide? This capstone resolves the ultimate tension of any compliance course: knowing the rules is not the same as knowing which one applies. It works through cross-cutting scenarios that touch gifts, disclosure, misuse of position, post-employment, and the Hatch Act at once, and gives you a single master workflow: locate the situation in the right body of law, identify who has jurisdiction (DAEO, OGE, OSC, or the IG), apply the correct standard, and — whenever you are genuinely unsure — get written advice before you act. You leave able to reason through the novel case, not just recite the familiar one.
Section 7 Quiz: The Hatch Act and Bringing It All Together
Compliance Check-In: The Campaign Post

Requirements

No prior ethics or legal training required — this course is accessible to all federal employees
Basic familiarity with U.S. federal government employment is helpful but not mandatory
Access to 5 CFR Part 2635 is useful for deeper reference but not required to complete the course

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Federal employees are held to a uniquely high standard of conduct. The 14 Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch — codified at 5 CFR Part 2635 — govern everything from accepting a cup of coffee to owning stock in a regulated company. This course walks you through every major rule in the federal ethics framework, using concrete examples drawn directly from the kinds of situations federal employees actually face.

You will begin with the foundations: the legal sources of federal ethics obligations, the role of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Designated Agency Ethics Officials (DAEOs), and the criminal conflict-of-interest statutes at 18 U.S.C. 201-209. From there the course moves through the gift rules and their exceptions, impartiality requirements, misuse of position rules, financial disclosure obligations, and restrictions on outside activities and employment. The post-employment revolving-door rules that apply after federal service are covered in full.

The final section is dedicated entirely to the Hatch Act — the law that governs political activity by federal employees. You will learn exactly what is permitted and what is prohibited, how the rules differ by employee category, and what the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) enforces. By the end of this course you will have a thorough, practical command of the federal ethics framework.

Who this course is for:

Federal employees in the executive branch who must comply with ethics regulations and standards of conduct
Ethics officials, DAEOs, and agency ethics program staff who advise and train colleagues
Federal supervisors and managers responsible for maintaining ethical standards in their workplaces
Political appointees and senior executives subject to heightened financial disclosure obligations
New federal hires who need a clear and practical introduction to the federal ethics framework

Government Ethics and the Hatch Act: Federal Rules

What you'll learn

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Course content

Public Trust, Core Principles, and Who Enforces Them6 lectures • 22min

Conflicts of Interest: From Appearance to Criminal Exposure6 lectures • 25min

The Gift Rules — Prohibited Sources, Exceptions, and Scenarios7 lectures • 26min

Financial Disclosure and the Cost of Getting It Wrong6 lectures • 25min

Misuse of Position, Outside Work, and Speaking Up6 lectures • 19min

Leaving Government: The Restrictions That Outlive Your Badge6 lectures • 24min

The Hatch Act: Political Activity, Social Media, and Penalties7 lectures • 26min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: