(a) Employment or arrangement concerning employment. An employee may not participate personally and substantially in a particular matter that, to the employee’s knowledge, has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of the person by whom he or she is employed or with whom he or she has an arrangement concerning future employment, unless authorized to participate in the matter by a written waiver issued under the authority of 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(1) or (3), or by a regulatory exemption under the authority of 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(2). These waivers and exemptions are described in § 2635.402(d) and part 2640, subparts B and C of this chapter.
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Example 1 to paragraph (a):A military officer has accepted a job with a defense contractor that will begin six months after his retirement from military service. During the period that he remains with the Government, the officer may not participate personally and substantially in the administration of a contract with that particular defense contractor unless he has received a written waiver under the authority of 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(1).Example 2 to paragraph (a):An accountant has just been offered a job with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) which involves a two-year limited appointment. Her private employer, a large corporation, believes the job will enhance her skills and has agreed to give her a two-year unpaid leave of absence at the end of which she has agreed to return to work for the corporation. During the two-year period that she is to be an OCC employee, the accountant will have an arrangement concerning future employment with the corporation that will require her recusal from participation personally and substantially in any particular matter that, to her knowledge, will have a direct and predictable effect on the corporation’s financial interests.
(b) Offer rejected or not made. The agency designee for the purpose of § 2635.502(c) may, in an appropriate case, determine that an employee not covered by the preceding paragraph who has sought but is no longer seeking employment nevertheless will be subject to a period of recusal upon the conclusion of employment negotiations. Any such determination will be based on a consideration of all the relevant factors, including those listed in § 2635.502(d), and a determination that the concern that a reasonable person may question the integrity of the agency’s decision-making process outweighs the Government’s interest in the employee’s participation in the particular matter.
Example 1 to paragraph (b):An employee of the Securities and Exchange Commission was relieved of responsibility for an investigation of a broker-dealer while seeking employment with the law firm representing the broker-dealer in that matter. The firm did not offer her the partnership position she sought. Even though she is no longer seeking employment with the firm, she may continue to be recused from participating in the investigation based on a determination by the agency designee that the concern that a reasonable person might question whether, in view of the history of the employment negotiations, she could act impartially in the matter outweighs the Government’s interest in her participation.
