The union has learned that some supervisors and managers in the agency are insisting that employees need to request permission before participating in all volunteer activities under the new CBA – that is false. The CBA did not change anything regarding this topic, this is a change required by federal regulations.

The 1995 CBA has the following statement: “Volunteer activity is not considered outside employment for the purposes of [Article 10].” This statement was removed in the new CBA because federal regulations changed, requiring that federal employees request permission before engaging in some volunteer activities.

5 CFR 4601.101 (d)(2)(ii) states, “Outside employment does not include participation in the activities of a nonprofit charitable, religious, professional, social, fraternal, educational, recreational, public service, or civic organization, unless the participation involves:

Acting in a fiduciary capacity,
Providing professional services for compensation,
Rendering advice for compensation other than the reimbursement of expenses, or…
An activity relating to the employee's official duties as defined in 5 CFR 2635.807(a)(2)(i)(A) through (E), to include activities related to any ongoing or announced policy, program, or operation of the employee's agency as it is defined at 5 CFR 4601.102.

To be clear, for activities like Little League, volunteering at a church, volunteering at a non-profit (such as Fallen Agents Fund) and others, no permission is required, as long as, the participation does not involve something in the four bullets above.