5:24
- ABC News
- December 5, 2018
Fed workers told to watch the political talk
Federal workers are given guidelines on talking politics at work.
5:24
The OSC said the goal of the memos wasn't to prevent all discussion of impeachment in the federal workforce. It's more about cutting out the advocacy at work.
“For example, two employees may discuss whether reported conduct by the president warrants impeachment and express an opinion about whether the president should be impeached without engaging in political activity,” the OSC stated. “An employee may not, however, display in his or her office a poster that states '#Impeach45' or place a 'Don’t Impeach Trump' bumper sticker on a government-owned vehicle because such conduct advocates for or against impeachment of a candidate for federal office.”
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/pro-trump-shirt-ap-jc-181204_hpEmbed_17x11_384.jpg\")
#ResistHate and even #ResistKavanaugh, a reference to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, is unlikely to run afoul of the Hatch Act because that wouldn’t necessarily factor into the success of a political party or candidate, the office determined.
It’s also OK if the worker is talking specifically of resisting something unrelated to Trump, like a pastry, the office noted.
“An employee would not be engaging in political activity by posting on social media 'I must #resist the temptation to eat another donut from the break room,'” the office stated.
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