All employees have the right to a workplace where ethical standards are followed, fraud, waste, and abuse are not tolerated, and they are treated with respect.
It is the Service's policy and expectation that all employees will maintain especially high standards of honesty, impartiality, character, and conduct to ensure the proper performance of Government business and the continual trust and confidence of the citizens of the United States. The conduct of employees must:
These principles apply to official conduct as well as private conduct that affects in any way the ability of employees or the Service to effectively accomplish the work of the Department.
Employee's Responsibilities |
Supervisor's Responsibilities |
| Be familiar and comply with the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch contained in 5 CFR 2635 and generally outlined in the Principles of Ethical Conduct as well as any supplemental Departmental and Service conduct and ethics regulations. | Permit new employees a minimum of 1 hour of official duty time for the purpose of reviewing Part I of EO 12731 and 5 CFR 2635 |
| Consulting with their supervisors and ethics counselors on general questions regarding the applicability of the standards of conduct regulations. | Requesting assistance where needed from appropriate ethics counselors in advising employees on ethics and conduct issues. |
| Notifying their supervisor of any outside work or activity that they will perform frequently or on a standardized schedule. | Reviewing employee notifications of outside work or activities to determine if there is any conflict of interest with their official duties and responsibilities or the appearance thereof. |
| Request, in writing, permission to conduct outside work for a prohibited source. | Forwarding employee requests to conduct outside work for a prohibited source to the appropriate servicing ethics counselor. |
| Carrying out the announced policies and programs of the Department and obeying the proper requests and directions of supervisors. | Reporting any potential conflict of interest situations to the respective ethics counselors for resolution. |
| Certain employees are required
to file a financial disclosure
report. This is defined in the Service
manual, 212 FW 2. |
Ensuring that employees who are responsible for filing financial disclosure reports receive at least 1 hour of annual ethics training. |
| Ensure that all studies or investigations adhere strictly to established scientific protocols and report any concerns with the directors of the research. |
Employees may be subject to disciplinary and/or adverse action, including removal from Federal service, resulting from failure to comply with any conflict of interest laws, regulations, orders, or policies; or obey the proper requests of supervisors having responsibility for employee performance.
Ethics guidelines and rules are in the Service Manual:
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