General Requirement. Before engaging in compensated or uncompensated outside employment, all National Mediation Board employees must obtain written approval from the Board or its designee.

Procedure for requesting approval. (1) The approval by the Board or its designee shall be requested in writing in advance of engaging in outside employment.

Upon a significant change in the nature of scope of the outside employment or in the employee's official position, the employee shall submit a revised request for approval within 30 calendar days.

Standard for approval. (1) Approval shall be granted unless the Board or its designee determines that the outside employment is expected to involve conduct prohibited by statute or Federal regulation, including 5 CFR part 2635.

As part of the approval process, the Board or its designee shall provide the request to the Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) in order for the employee to receive written ethics guidance. In the event, the DAEO is the Board's designee, the DAEO shall provide written ethics guidance upon receiving the request. This written ethics guidance shall be appended to the written approval.

Definition of employment. For purposes of this section, “employment” means any form of non-Federal employment or business relationship, compensated or uncompensated, involving the provision of personal services by the employee. It includes, but is not limited to personal services as an officer, director, employee, agent, attorney, consultant, contractor, general partner, trustee, teacher, or speaker. It includes writing when done under an arrangement with another person for production or publication of the written product. It does not, however, include participation in the activities of a nonprofit charitable, religious, professional, social, fraternal, educational, recreational, public service or civic organization, unless such activities are for compensation other than reimbursement of expenses; such activities involve the provision of professional services or advice; or the organization's activities are devoted substantially to matters relating to the employee's official duties as defined in 5 CFR 2635.807(a)(2)(i)(B) through (E).