Post-Employment Restrictions

What happens after you leave EPA? Turns out that there is a criminal post-employment statute (18 U.S.C. 207) that imposes a number of different restrictions on the activities of former Government employees. They include:

• A lifetime prohibition on representing others in connection with the same particular matter involving specific parties in which you participated personally and substantially
• A two-year prohibition on representing others in connection with the same particular matter involving specific parties that was pending under your official responsibility during your last year of Government employment
• A one-year prohibition on representing, aiding, or advising others about certain ongoing trade or treaty negotiations on the basis of certain nonpublic information

In addition, if you're a "senior employee" (i.e., your base pay is greater than 86.5% of the Executive Schedule II base pay and other factors), you will have a one-year cooling off period that prohibits you from representing anyone before EPA in connection with any matter at all.

Example: You were on an IPA to the Office of Research and Development evaluating grant proposals to examine the effects of extraterrestrial life upon Earth's flora and fauna. After your IPA assignment ends, you take a job with the University of South Roswell (one of the grant applicants). You can't represent them back to EPA concerning this grant.