The Postal Service is reminding employees that federal ethics laws prohibit them from misusing their postal positions for their own private gain.
This includes personal fundraising in which their social media post or webpage references their USPS position, shows them in uniform, contains a postal logo or vehicle, or otherwise communicates an association with the Postal Service.
If another person starts a fundraising post on an employee’s behalf and references the Postal Service, the employee must ask the person to remove all such references immediately and return any money already raised. Failing to do so is a misuse of a Postal Service position, and it constitutes the acceptance of improper gifts.
Employees can solicit financial assistance on websites such as GoFundMe when off duty and using personal electronic devices, but they cannot associate themselves or their fundraising efforts with the Postal Service.
Employees with questions can email the USPS Ethics Office or call 202-268-6346. The Ethics Blue page has more information.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane.
The USPS Pro Cycling Team sponsorship is one of the most notable HQ-level marketing and ethics controversies from the 1998–2005 window.
While the general public associates this era with Lance Armstrong’s sporting victories, the USPS OIG viewed the multi-million dollar marketing campaign through a lens of severe procurement fraud and executive oversight failure.
Some people’s memories are very long.
Continuing down memory lane…
In April 2000, M. Richard Porras, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Vice President of the U.S. Postal Service, suddenly retired following a major ethics scandal involving the misuse of executive relocation benefits.
The Core Violations: Circumventing the Executive Salary Cap: At the time, federal law capped the CFO’s salary at $151,800. The OIG concluded that the excessive relocation packages were “perceived as a way to circumvent” statutory limits on executive pay.
No Change in Work Location: The USPS spent a combined $248,000 to relocate Porras and John H. Ward (the Postal Service Controller). Both men moved fewer than 50 miles away and continued working at the exact same offices at USPS Headquarters.
The “Commute” Deception: Porras and Ward claimed they needed the moves to decrease their arduous commute times due to expanded work hours. The OIG’s physical investigation revealed that after a $142,311 expenditure to move Porras, his actual commute to HQ was shortened by exactly one minute.
Lack of Board Approval: Neither the Postmaster General nor the Secretary to the Postal Service Board of Governors was aware of the true costs when the perks were initially authorized.