7.9—Outside employment or activities.
(a)
A member of the Commission shall not devote a substantial portion of his or her time to any other business, vocation, or employment. Any individual who is engaging substantially in any other business, vocation, or employment at the time such individual begins to serve as a member of the Commission shall appropriately limit such activity no later than 90 days after beginning to serve as such a member.
(b)
An employee shall not engage in outside employment that is not compatible with the full discharge of his or her Government employment and not in compliance with any labor-management agreement between the Federal Election Commission and a labor organization. Incompatible outside employment or other activities include but are not limited to:
(1)
Outside employment or other activities which would involve the violation of a Federal or State statute, local ordinance, Executive Order, or regulation to which the employee is subject;
(2)
Outside employment or other activities which would give rise to a real or apparent conflict of interest situation even though no violation of a specific statutory provision was involved;
(3)
Acceptance of a fee, compensation, gift, payment of expense, or any other thing of monetary value in circumstances where acceptance may result in, or create the appearance of, a conflict of interest;
(4)
Outside employment or other activities that might bring discredit upon the Government or Commission;
(5)
Outside employment or other activities that establish relationships or property interests that may result in a conflict between the employee's private interests and official duties;
(6)
Outside employment or other activities which would involve any contractor or subcontractor connected with any work performed for the Commission or would involve any person or organization in a position to gain advantage in its dealings with the Government through the employee's exercise of his or her official duties;
(7)
Outside employment of other activities that may be construed by the public to be the official acts of the Federal Election Commission. In any permissible outside employment, care shall be taken to ensure that names and titles of employees are not used to give the impression that the activity is officially endorsed or approved by the Commission or is part of the Commission's activities;
(8)
Outside employment or other activities which would involve use by an employee of his or her official duty time; use of official facilities, including office space, machines, or supplies, at any time; or use of the services of other employees during their official duty hours;
(9)
Outside employment or other activities which tend to impair the employee's mental or physical capacities to perform Commission duties and responsibilities in an acceptable manner; or
(10)
Use of information obtained as a result of Government employment which is not freely available to the general public or would not be made available upon request. However, written authorization for the use of any such information may be given when the Commission determines that such use would be in the public interest.
(c)
An employee shall not receive any salary or anything of monetary value from a private source as compensation for his or her services to the Government in violation of 18 U.S.C. 209.
(d)
Employees are encouraged to engage in teaching, lecturing, and writing that is not prohibited by law, Executive Order 11222, or this part. However, an employee shall not, either for or without compensation, engage in teaching or writing that is dependent on information obtained as a result of his or her Commission employment, except when that information has been made available to the general public or will be made available on request, or when the Commission gives written authorization for the use of nonpublic information on the basis that the use is in the public interest.
(e)
This section does not preclude an individual from participation in the affairs of or acceptance of an award for meritorious public contribution or achievement given by a charitable, religious, professional, social, fraternal, nonprofit educational, recreational, public service or civic organization.
(f)
An employee of the Office of General Counsel who intends to engage in outside employment shall obtain the approval of the General Counsel/Ethics Officer. All other employees who intend to engage in outside employment shall obtain the approval of the Staff Director prior to review and approval by the Ethics Officer. The request shall include the name of the person, group, or organization for whom the work is to be performed, the nature of the services to be rendered, the proposed hours of work, or approximate dates of employment, and the employee's certification as to whether the outside employment (including teaching, writing or lecturing) will depend in any way on information obtained as a result of the employee's official Government position. The employee will receive notice of approval or disapproval of any written request in accordance with any labor-management agreement between the Commission and a labor organization. A record of the approval shall be placed in each employee's official personnel folder.