USDOJ: JMD: Departmental Ethics Office: Personal Use of Government Property

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An employee should recognize her responsibility to protect and conserve government property and resources, and to make an honest effort to use official time and government property only for official business. 5 C.F.R. § 2635.704 through .705 Use of Government property, and Use of official time.

An employee may not use the official time of another employee for anything other than official business. The use of any government property, including computers and the Internet, for any partisan political activities is always prohibited.

Department of Justice employees are generally authorized to make minimal personal use of most office equipment and library facilities where the cost to the Government is negligible and on an employee's own time. 28 C.F.R. § 45.4. This is the Department's de minimis use policy, and would permit an employee to send a short, personal electronic message to another individual. However, personal messages sent to large groups of people and messages sent to disseminate information on non-Governmental activities, such as charitable events and causes, commercial activities such as personal businesses, and religious observances, are prohibited.

If an employee of the Department of Justice has questions about the Department's rules covering the limitations on personal use of government equipment and resources, or questions about whether planned personal use of office equipment is permitted, she should consult with her supervisor, or her ethics official.


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