Outside Activities

• As a federal employee, in general you may not make representations to the Postal Service or other federal agencies on behalf of others.
• For example, you may not call the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on behalf of your friend to ask for a reduction of a penalty assessed against him for late payment.
• You may not call Supply Management to try to help a neighbor’s business get a Postal Service contract.
• You don’t want to come close to this line because criminal liability is at stake – contact the Ethics Office (ethics.help@usps.gov) for guidance.

When you avoid a conflict of interest between your interests outside of work and the interests of the federal government, you enhance the Postal Service’s reputation for trustworthiness.

And that’s smart business.