§ 20.202 Ethics program responsibilities.

(a) The Designated Agency Ethics Official (or the alternate agency ethics official in his or her absence) shall coordinate and manage the department's ethics program in accordance with 5 CFR 2638.203.

(b) Each Ethics Counselor shall, for his or her bureau:

(1) Order disciplinary or remedial action in accordance with the provisions of subpart F of this part. This authority may not be redelegated.

(2) Designate: (i) The Bureau Personnel Officer (or other qualified headquarters employee) as Deputy Ethics Counselor to carry out operational duties of the Ethics Counselor within their bureaus under the general direction of the Ethics Counselor; and

(ii) Headquarters bureau, regional, or area personnel officers (or other qualified employees) as Associate Ethics Counselors or Assistant Ethics Counselors to perform ethics counseling and the collection and review of financial disclosure reports.

(3) Ensure that vacancy announcements for positions which require a public or confidential financial disclosure report alert applicants to the filing requirement.

(4) Establish and maintain internal procedures and guidelines to adequately and systematically inform employees of the content, meaning, and importance of ethical conduct and other conduct regulations.

(c) All supervisors may make decisions as to whether conduct by employees under their supervision would result in the appearance that the employee would violate or is violating the ethical standards set forth in 5 CFR 2635; all supervisors are expected, therefore, to be familiar with those standards. In addition, any supervisor who grants prior approval of an employee's outside employment under 5 CFR 3501.105(b) is expected, at a minimum, to provide information to the employee about the prohibitions in 18 U.S.C. 203, 205 and 208 at the time such approval is granted.