Postal Service employees may volunteer for a partisan candidate’s campaign while off duty without violating the Hatch Act. Here are examples of what you can do:

• Initiate or pass out nominating petitions
• Canvass votes for or against a candidate
• Endorse a candidate
• Attend and actively participate in political rallies and meetings
• Distribute literature
• Help manage a campaign

Exercising your freedom of speech rights in the political arena while off duty fosters the public’s trust in the Postal Service as an agency separate from partisan politics.

And that’s smart business.

Contact the Ethics Office (ethics.help@usps.gov) for more information about the Hatch Act.

• Be mindful of postal policy when sharing content through social media.
• Social media include blogs, wikis, YouTube, podcasts, social networking websites (such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and LinkedIn), microblogs, Web 2.0 — basically any form of online publishing or discussion.
• Using social media on your own time is your decision. However, you can’t speak for or act on behalf of the Postal Service. All uses of social media related to the conduct of official postal business require management’s consent.

Following the social media policy protects our brand. And that’s smart business.

Find out more about the social media policy in the ASM, Section 363.