The Hatch Act at Home

Did you Feds know that the Hatch Act still applies when you are working from home? It does. And that could be a problem for federally-employed people who do social media from their (home) workplaces.

In fact, I believe those Feds who work for the foreign affairs department of the Washington DC area's largest employer have been officially cautioned that while teleworking from home they are still subject to the Hatch Act’s on-duty restrictions and therefore they may not engage in otherwise permissible political activities when they are on duty at home.

And what is social media these days except political activities, however defined?

Under the Hatch Act, a Less Restricted employee, like me, "while at work" may not ... "Post a comment to a blog or a social media site that advocates for or against a partisan political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group."

That's on top of the usual forms of political activity the Act bans from the workplace, like displaying campaign materials, wearing partisan political buttons or t-shirts, and sending or forwarding content that advocates for or against a partisan political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group.

So, if I participate in a video team meeting and have a 'Vote for Smith' poster in the background, apparently I've violated the Hatch Act. Also, I like to use my bookcases as a video background, but some of my books might be triggering to some of my co-workers. If I post a warning before all team meetings that Some Scenes May Be Too Intense For Younger Viewers, would I be out of legal jepardy?

What if I take a short break from work to look at Twitter and, before I know it, retweet a message that says "Smith is a moron"? I guess I'll have violated the Hatch Act.

My only legal defense might be to claim I was not in what the Hatch Act calls "pay status" when I lost my head. But how is that status time-deliniated when we don't punch a time clock in our home offices? Must I wait eight or nine hours after I've logged on to the MS office app before I touch any blog or social media that deals with the pretty all-encompassing matter of advocating for or against a partisan political party, candidate, or group?

Will anyone be fired for home officeplace political activity in this dramtic 2020 election season? This will be a good one to watch.

The Hatch Act Still Applies After 5:31 PM

You're probably seen the video of a Department of State employee explaining how he cleverly skirts the Hatch Act prohibition on doing partisan political activities in his government workplace. He simply keeps his political work in draft until after office hours. Then “as soon as 5:31 hits" he sends it out. That will work, right?

No, it turns out it won't. If Mister Karaffa had read the Office of Ethics and Financial Disclosure's rules on prohibited political activities he would have learned that a domestically-assigned Civil Service employee such as himself may not engage in any political activity, even while off duty, while he is in a government office or building, including while using a personal device, or even while in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties by a U.S. Government official.

Karaffa could have come in the office after midnight or on a weekend, and sent his political work out from his own smart phone, and it would still have been a violation of the Hatch Act.

And it doesn't help that he goes and talks about it in front of a hidden camera, either, of course.

Here's a nice explanation of what the Hatch Act is and why it matters for Federal employees:

People both inside and outside the federal government like to believe that it’s “impossible” to fire a federal employee. The truth is, it’s only hard for a supervisor who doesn’t counsel their employees and keep a paper trail of infractions and attempted remediation. But aside from that, there are two ways to lose your job in the federal government quickly. One is to mess around with classified information. The other is to violate the Hatch Act.

The latest person who is about to learn this lesson is Stuart Karaffa, a Management and Program Analyst with the State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations. Karaffa is also active in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). That alone is not a problem. But conservative undercover journalist James O’Keefe caught Karaffa on hidden camera admitting that he does much of his DSA work while on the job at State. That’s a problem.

-- Snip –-

The Office of Special Counsel (or OSC. This is an independent federal agency, not Robert Mueller’s office.) is responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act. Its website is clear: government employees may not “engage in political activity – i.e., activity directed at the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group – while the employee is on duty, in any federal room or building, while wearing a uniform or official insignia, or using any federally owned or leased vehicle.”

Karaffa told O’Keefe’s undercover journalists that “As soon as 5:31 hits, got my like draft messages ready to send out.” Sorry, Stuart. It’s not just the clock, it’s the fact that you’re still inside the building.

Karaffa should expect a call soon from investigators at the OSC. Because while it may be difficult for a supervisor to fire a federal worker, the OSC, working through the Merit Systems Promotion Board, can and will remove someone who has violated the Hatch Act from federal service. They did it twice in August alone.

I am personally wounded to learn that Stuart Karaffa is one of my good friends in the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations. From now on, when meeting with my friends I'll have to ask whether anyone is wearing a wire.