National Defense:

[Comments on Whether a Federal Employee Can Use Government Resources To Support Reserve Activities]

B-277678, Jan 4, 1999

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GAO provided information on whether a federal employee on official duty, who is also a member of the National Guard or the armed forces Reserves, may conduct, and use agency office equipment to support, Guard or Reserve business. GAO held that: (1) agencies may permit their employees to use a limited amount of official time and agency resources to support the Guard or Reserves; (2) employees who are not in active military status and receiving military pay at the time that they perform the limited incidental service for their Guard or Reserve organization are not prohibited from using agency resources and official time to support those activities; (3) all agencies would appear to have some interest in furthering the governmental purpose of, and national interest in, the Guard and Reserves; (4) thus, some use of employee time and agency equipment to carry out limited, incidental Guard or Reserve functions falls within the parameters of activities that an agency may permit; and (5) it may be advisable for the Office of Personnel Management to provide general guidelines as to the amount of time and types of agency equipment that may be used for this purpose, and under what circumstances this is permitted.