Basic ethics rules on receiving gifts from outside sources

  • Published
  • By Bryan Goldberg
  • 19th Airlift Wing Office of the Staff Judge Advocate Civil Law Attorney
LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. --  With the holiday season recently behind us, many of you (hopefully, most of you) have received gifts. As fun as giving and receiving gifts can be, all federal employees, military and civilian, must be aware of the ethics rules on gifts from outside sources. 

The Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, states that the general rule, (subject to a variety of exceptions), is that military and civilian federal employees cannot ask for or accept a gift from a prohibited source or a gift given because of the employee's official position.

The first question is whether the item is a gift. If it is a gift, who is it from, and why is the gift being given?

A "gift" includes basically anything of monetary value: services, food, travel, loans and more. Odds are, if you want to keep it, it's a gift. Also, "gifts" include: gifts given to your parents, spouse, sibling, child and other dependents because of their relationship to you or gifts given to a charity on your behalf. There are certain things excluded from the definition of "gifts," like: coffee and donuts, postcards and plaques and other items of little intrinsic value, commercial discounts for the military, rewards and prizes open to the public, publicly-available loans, and the like. We will discuss all of those more in-depth in a future article.

Next, consider who the gift is from. The rule only prevents accepting gifts from prohibited sources or gifts given because of an employee's official position. A prohibited source is any person or entity that either: 1) is seeking official action from the Air Force, 2) does or wants to do business with the Air Force, 3) has interests substantially affected by your official duties, or
4) is an organization like a trade association who has a majority of its membership made up of people and groups listed above. For example, if an Air Force contractor employee gives you two tickets to the Super Bowl, that's a gift from a prohibited source because the contractor does business with the Air Force. Keep in mind, a person doesn't become a prohibited source just because they offered you a gift.

The general rule also prohibits accepting gifts given because of an employee's official position. Whether you received that gift due to your official position depends on what your duties are and your relationship to the giver. Are you in a leadership position? What responsibilities do you have as part of your duties? Are you involved in contracting or other decision-making roles that affect someone else's financial bottom-line? Most importantly, would you have been offered the gift if you did not have your position and duties? When in doubt, play it safe and presume that you were offered the gift because of your position and duties.

Don't panic. Just because you received a gift from a prohibited source or due to your official position, it's not the end of the story. There are a lot of exclusions and exceptions that allow you to keep the gift, and we will discuss those in future articles. If you have a gift you can't accept, there are several options available that we will also discuss.

If you have any questions regarding gifts from outside sources, visit the Little Rock Air Force Base Legal Office located at 1250 Thomas Ave., Suite 222, or call (501) 987-7886.

Information from this article was taken from Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch located in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 5, Parts 2635.202(a), 2635.203(b)., and 2635.203(d).