Effective March 31, 2022, the Postal Service™ will revise the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM), section 662.11, to clarify the standard related to ethics advice for applying ethics regulations to particular situations.
This revision reflects that in investigations of, or actions against, Postal Service employees in their individual capacity, employees may not assert the attorney-client privilege to prevent disclosure of their communications with agency ethics officials and attorneys. This revision also reflects that the Postal Service may assert any privileges available in response to lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act requests to protect from disclosure certain communications between agency ethics attorneys and employees in response to external requests for information or news media inquiries.
Although the Postal Service will not publish this revision in the ELM until March 31, 2022, this standard is effective immediately.
Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM)
* * * * *
6 Employee Relations
* * * * *
660 Conduct
* * * * *
662 Federal Standards of Ethical Conduct
* * * * *
662.11 Ethics Advice
[Revise the text of 662.11 to read as follows:]
Employees who have questions about the application of the ethics regulations to particular situations should seek advice from an agency ethics official. Disciplinary action for violating these regulations will not be taken against an employee who has engaged in conduct in good faith reliance upon the advice of an agency ethics official, provided that the employee has made full disclosure of all relevant circumstances in seeking such advice. In any investigations of, or actions against, employees in their individual capacities, employees are not protected by the attorney-client privilege and may not assert in that context that such privilege prevents disclosure of their communications made to agency ethics officials or attorneys. An agency ethics official is required by 28 U.S.C. 535 to report any information he or she receives relating to a violation of the criminal code (Title 18 U.S.C.).
However, the Postal Service may still assert the attorney-client privilege and other privileges available in the civil litigation context, and/or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemptions, to protect from public disclosure information provided to an agency ethics attorney from an employee, ethics advice provided from an agency ethics attorney to an employee, and any related documents, in response to FOIA requests, news media inquiries, and other external requests for information (except when disclosure is required by law).
* * * * *
The Postal Service will incorporate this revision into the next edition of the online ELM, which is available on the PolicyNet website:
n Go to blue.usps.gov.
n In the left-hand column, click Essential Links, and then click PolicyNet.
n Go to the right-hand side under “Published Forms and Directives.”
n Click Manuals.
The direct URL for the Postal Service PolicyNet website is blue.usps.gov/cpim.
— Ethics and Legal Compliance,
Law Department, 1-27-22
