Federal Office Code Of Ethics
As a part of Federal Office, United States Geological Survey has a code of ethics that is strictly regulated by the United States Office of Government Ethics. This code of ethics is presented to employees the first day on the job. For example, I completed the ethics training on the first day I joined USGS and signed a written memorandum that I have a clear understanding of what is considered ethical values in the office. The code of ethics is designed to provide an overview for the joining employees about the ethics regulations, rules, and policies at the USGS. Furthermore, through this code of ethics guidelines, new and old employees can distinguish the ethical regulations that are implemented in the office.
In this code of ethics, one of
the ethical issues that currently exists in the office is the prohibition of accepting gifts from prohibited sources. This is considered a serious violation in the office. Although strictly prohibited, my co-workers cannot avoid not to accept gifts from outside sources. Most of the time my co-workers, being a scientist, they got invited by Universities and private institutions to deliver speeches to the public about their experiences and on-going projects. And for this reason, the Universities and private institution paid for their hotel and meals as a token of appreciation. Fortunately, our management is aware of this on-going matter and came up with a solution. The management created DI-200, a form that reports the accepted payment from a non-federal source and needs to be submitted prior to their planned events.
Unfortunately, my co-workers often tend to forget to fill-out this form. So, being a travel arranger of the office, I am dealing with this issue to be my top priority among other responsibilities. To further illustrate, I created an Excel Spreadsheet of the employees who have a travel arrangement with the trip purpose of being an invited guest by outside sources. Moreover, I made a tickler for myself to remind my co-workers prior to their travel to submit the DI-200 form prior to their travel and send an email with the attachment of the said form. In this way, I helped my co-workers be aware of the agency’s code of ethics and help them avoid consequences or disciplinary actions from the management.
In this code of ethics, one of
the ethical issues that currently exists in the office is the prohibition of accepting gifts from prohibited sources. This is considered a serious violation in the office. Although strictly prohibited, my co-workers cannot avoid not to accept gifts from outside sources. Most of the time my co-workers, being a scientist, they got invited by Universities and private institutions to deliver speeches to the public about their experiences and on-going projects. And for this reason, the Universities and private institution paid for their hotel and meals as a token of appreciation. Fortunately, our management is aware of this on-going matter and came up with a solution. The management created DI-200, a form that reports the accepted payment from a non-federal source and needs to be submitted prior to their planned events.
Unfortunately, my co-workers often tend to forget to fill-out this form. So, being a travel arranger of the office, I am dealing with this issue to be my top priority among other responsibilities. To further illustrate, I created an Excel Spreadsheet of the employees who have a travel arrangement with the trip purpose of being an invited guest by outside sources. Moreover, I made a tickler for myself to remind my co-workers prior to their travel to submit the DI-200 form prior to their travel and send an email with the attachment of the said form. In this way, I helped my co-workers be aware of the agency’s code of ethics and help them avoid consequences or disciplinary actions from the management.