04/16/2025

This Program Advisory describes changes in OGE’s updated Compilation of Federal Ethics Laws.

04/15/2025

This Program Advisory provides filing deadlines for the public financial disclosure reports of executive branch employees and procedures for the reports agencies are required to transmit to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

02/05/2025

This Legal Advisory provides an overview of the outside earned income and affiliation limitations that apply to senior political appointees, including covered non-career appointees and presidential appointees.

01/07/2025

This Legal Advisory identifies the 2025 thresholds for: (1) determining which senior employees are subject to the post-employment restrictions; (2) identifying which officers and employees must file public financial disclosure reports; and (3) implementing the outside employment and outside earned income restrictions for certain covered noncareer employees.

12/02/2024

This Legal Advisory provides guidance on the ethical requirements relevant for executive branch employees during a presidential Inauguration celebration.

11/25/2024

This Program Advisory describes recent updates to the Certification of Ethics Agreement Compliance (Certification) required to be filed with the OGE by Presidential appointees following their confirmation by the Senate. The updates were necessary to clarify the deadlines for timely compliance, include an additional certification option related to divestitures that do not require the filing of a periodic transaction report, revise one of the recusals for spousal interests, and include a minor change to the Privacy Act Statement to address the recodification of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended (EIGA).

11/08/2024

This Legal Advisory provides answers to frequently asked questions about the gift exception for widely attended gatherings (WAGs) found at 5 C.F.R. § 2635.204(g).

10/30/2024

This Legal Advisory discusses SGE day counting for the purposes of travel days and when the SGE has past regular Government service.

10/28/2024

This Legal Advisory discusses: (1) the subpart C framework for gift-giving between employees, including use of the special infrequent occasion exception in times of crisis; (2) guidance for employees seeking to solicit donations for themselves and others (including the use of crowdsourcing websites in the federal workplace); and (3) considerations for specific types of donations, including in-kind gifts, gifts of cash, and leave donation.

10/17/2024

This Legal Advisory reviews the elements of 18 U.S.C. §§ 203 and 205(a)(1), common types of payments that may implicate the statutes, and resolutions for when such payments arise.

10/02/2024

This Program Advisory provides a summary of the changes in the 2024 revised Guide to Drafting Nominee Ethics Agreements.

09/27/2024

This Legal Advisory discusses common ethics issues that may arise for current and former executive branch employees who are serving on a presidential transition team (PTT). This includes the application of the ethics rules concerning representational activity, nonpublic information, and receipt of payments and gifts from the PTT.

09/11/2024

This Legal Advisory provides guidance on when “thematic” mutual funds are “sector funds” for purposes of the regulatory exemptions to 18 U.S.C. § 208.

07/31/2024

OGE publishes its annual survey of prosecutions involving the conflict of interest criminal statutes and other related statutes for calendar year 2023.

07/30/2024

This Legal Advisory explains the impact of the pay rate cap applicable to noncareer officials for 2024 on the application of the senior employee post-Government employment restrictions under 18 U.S.C. § 207(c).

07/22/2024

This program advisory provides an advance copy of the Annual Agency Ethics Program Questionnaire, explains how and when agencies must submit their response, describes the changes made from the previous questionnaire, and reminds agencies of the public availability of the questionnaire

07/18/2024

This Program Advisory announces the U.S. Office of Government Ethics' (OGE) plan to list information about individuals who receive conflict of interest waivers (waivers) issued under 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(1) in its Officials’ Individual Disclosures Search Collection (Collection). This Advisory describes why, how, and when OGE will make this information available, and reminds agencies that they may withhold from public disclosure information that would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

06/10/2024

This Legal Advisory discusses the application of the terms “organization” under 18 U.S.C. § 208 and “person” under 5 C.F.R. § 2635.502 for employees with outside employment interests with state and local government entities.

06/03/2024

In this Program Advisory, OGE asks each agency to forward its annual letter stating whether its components that are currently designated should remain designated for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 207(c). Any request to modify the existing list of components should be submitted in accordance with regulatory procedures.

05/17/2024

The final rule making modernization updates to the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (Standards) becomes effective on August 15, 2024. This Legal Advisory highlights some of the notable updates to the Standards which will go into effect at that time.

04/26/2024

This Legal Advisory discusses the exceptions to 18 U.S.C. §§ 203 and 205 for representational contacts made by an employee when acting as a personal fiduciary of an individual or their estate.

04/24/2024

This Program Advisory provides filing deadlines for the public financial disclosure reports of executive branch employees and procedures for the reports agencies are required to transmit to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

04/03/2024

This Legal Advisory highlights the potential conflict of interest risks and financial disclosure reporting challenges for employees who invest in managed accounts, including those managed by robo-advisors.

02/05/2024

This Legal Advisory discusses the changes in the updated Public Financial Disclosure Guide.

01/31/2024

This Legal Advisory discusses the application of certain ethics rules to several Bitcoin exchange-traded products (“Bitcoin ETPs”). As described in the Legal Advisory, these Bitcoin ETPs do not qualify for regulatory exemptions to the conflict of interest law 18 U.S.C. § 208. The Bitcoin ETPs do qualify as excepted investment funds for purposes of financial disclosure reporting.

01/04/2024

This Legal Advisory identifies the 2024 thresholds for: (1) determining which senior employees are subject to the post-employment restrictions; (2) identifying which officers and employees must file public financial disclosure reports; and (3) implementing the outside employment and outside earned income restrictions for certain covered noncareer employees.

12/20/2023

The Legal Advisory discusses OGE’s approach to resolving potential conflicts of interest and other ethics issues for nominees for Presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed positions.

11/13/2023

This Legal Advisory discusses the changes in the updated Confidential Financial Disclosure Guide.

10/16/2023

In support of OGE's equity efforts, this Program Advisory requests your participation in a short, four-question survey to identify the current demographics of the federal employees who implement the executive branch ethics program. OGE will use the results of this survey to compare to the 2021 results, to better understand the composition of the ethics community, to inform its DEIA Strategic Plan, and to tailor and create recruitment, retention, and professional development strategies for ethics practitioners.

09/28/2023

This Legal Advisory provides frequently raised questions and answers concerning the application of the Federal ethics laws to employees’ use of personal professional networking accounts and monetized personal social media activities.