The Postal Service is reminding employees they may not run for partisan office.
A partisan election is one in which any candidate in the race represents a political party.
This Hatch Act rule applies to partisan elections at the federal, state and local levels. It also applies to employees who are on leave.
Acts considered to be “running for office” include announcing one’s candidacy, campaigning, filing candidacy paperwork and holding meetings to plan campaign strategy.
USPS employees may run in nonpartisan elections — those where no candidate is affiliated with a political party — and it is an employee’s responsibility to ensure that any race he or she enters is nonpartisan.
Employees considering running for any elected office are advised to seek guidance from the Ethics and Legal Compliance team by emailing ethics.help@usps.gov.
The Hatch Act does not prohibit a postal employee from accepting an appointment to public office. However, it does prohibit running for reelection if a partisan election follows the appointment.
Violations of the act can result in disciplinary action, including suspension without pay or removal.
The Ethics Blue page has more resources on the do’s and don’ts of political activity.