Tag: federal employees

by Tristan Justice   Federal employees received warning on Wednesday not to discuss the “resistance” or the impeachment of President Donald Trump while on the job under new guidance issued by the Office of Special Counsel, the independent agency that enforces the Hatch Act. The guidance, according to The New York Times, informed the federal workforce that engaging in discussions of the impeachment of the sitting president or “resistance” to the Trump administration on work time could constitute as political activity banned under the Hatch Act, a law prohibiting federal employees from participating in such activity in an official capacity or on government time. “Advocating for a candidate to be impeached, and thus potentially disqualified from holding federal office, is clearly directed at the failure of that candidate’s campaign for federal office,” the guidance states. “Similarly, advocating against a candidate’s impeachment is activity directed at maintaining that candidate’s eligibility for federal office and therefore also considered political activity.” The Times reports that the reasoning behind the guidance stems from the fact that Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign is already under way, and that arguments in favor or opposition to Trump’s policies or possible impeachment are political statements that either promote or oppose…