Hello, and welcome to one of several videos about the ethics rules that apply to all
Federal employees.
I am Sarah Nechamen from the USDA Office of Ethics, and today I’ll be talking about how the Hatch
Act relates to social media use.
The Hatch Act restricts how Federal employees can engage in political activities, and with
social media at the tips of our fingers, it is easier than ever to violate the Hatch Act
accidentally.
The wrong “like” or “retweet” could put you in hot ethical waters-- and could
lead to severe consequences including suspension or even termination.
Let’s start by reviewing the Hatch Act itself.
The Act has different restrictions for different types of employees:
In this video, we will be focusing on the rules for less restricted employees, including
Schedule C’s, GS and WG employees, and non-career SES employees.
Further restricted employees, including career SES employees and Administrative Law Judges,
have additional limitations and should watch our video on The Hatch Act for Further Restricted
Employees instead.
In general, the Hatch Act prohibits political activity while on duty, on Federal premises,
or while using government property.
It defines political activity as any activity directed toward the success or failure of
a partisan candidate, political party, or partisan political group.
Social media use is restricted by these same rules.
As a Federal employee, you cannot post political messages while on duty, on Federal premises,
or using government property.
You also can’t like, share, or retweet someone else’s political post under these circumstances.
Let’s look at some examples.
Example 1: You work in a Federal building and you’re on your lunch break in the building
cafeteria.
While in the cafeteria, you “like” your friend’s post on Facebook
about how terrible the governor’s policies are and how the candidate from the other political
party is a much better choice.
Because you’re on Federal property, and you “liked” a partisan political post,
you have just violated the Hatch Act.
Example 2: you are teleworking from home and work is slow, so you’re browsing Twitter
with your government laptop.
You see a tweet from Candidate Polinski, asking for everyone’s support in her run for US
Senate.
You’ve always liked Candidate Polinski, so you retweet it without a second thought.
Again, you have violated the Hatch Act, because even when you’re teleworking you are still
on duty and may not retweet political messages.
You were also using your government laptop, which is government property, so even if you
were off duty, you would still have violated the Hatch Act.
In addition to the bans on engaging in political activity while on the clock or in the office,
Federal employees are also subject to a 24/7 fundraising ban.
You are never allowed to solicit or accept donations for a partisan political candidate,
political party, or political organization, and you need to be especially careful of this
when using social media.
You may not post, like, or share any political fundraising language on your social media
account.
Imagine that you’re on your personal phone while at home and off duty, and you come across
a candidate’s Facebook post about immigration.
You know you agree with her views and you share the post without reading all the way
to the bottom, so you never saw the link to the candidate’s donation page at the end
of the post.
Even though you are off duty and off Federal premises, and even though you never saw the
donation link, you have still violated the Hatch Act by sharing the post.
However this doesn’t mean that you need to delete your social media accounts, or stop
following politics and hide under a rock for the rest of your Federal career.
As a less restricted Federal employee, you are well within your rights to post, like
or share political messages when off duty, off Federal premises, and using your personal
phone or computer—so long as you don’t include any fundraising.
You can do these things even if your government job is listed on your profile:
nothing in the Hatch Act prohibits you from listing yourself as a Federal employee as
part of your social media profile.
Just make sure you aren’t using your Federal job to promote political posts,
for example writing that “as a USDA employee, I think Candidate X is best for farmers.”
Additionally, if you are in charge of an official USDA social media account, do not post any
partisan political messages on the official account and keep your personal account separate.
You are also allowed to write, like, or share messages relating to broad policy issues
while off duty.
The Hatch Act only applies to activity related to partisan political candidates,
groups, and parties.
Political issues like immigration or foreign policy are not covered under the Hatch Act.
If you’re ever unsure if a social media post, like, or share is prohibited by the
Hatch Act, be sure to contact the Office of Ethics first.
We can walk you through the ethics analysis and make sure you don’t lose your job over
an errant tweet.
Thank you for watching, and have a great day!