Post-employment restrictions are a set of federal laws and regulations — primarily 18 U.S.C. § 207 and implementing rules in 5 CFR Part 2635 — that limit the activities of former government employees after they return to the private sector. The core purpose is to prevent officials from using the relationships, information, and authority they built in government to immediately benefit a private employer, especially one they may have regulated.
The main restrictions under 18 U.S.C. § 207 include: a lifetime ban on representing a private party on the specific matter the official worked on personally while in government; a two-year ban on helping private parties on matters that were under the official's broader responsibility; and a one-year cooling-off period for senior officials prohibiting representational contact with their former agency. A separate rule, 5 CFR § 2635.503, addresses the reverse situation: when a government employee received a covered payment — salary, severance, or consulting fees — from a private employer before entering government, they must recuse themselves from any particular matter involving that former employer for two years, absent a written waiver.
Waivers can be granted in writing by the employee's appointing official or a delegated authority. Under Executive Order 12674, agencies are required to consult with the Office of Government Ethics before issuing waivers "when practicable," but the consultation is not always legally mandatory. The structural risk is that waiver authority rests with political appointees who may share financial ties to the same industry as the employee seeking the waiver — placing the decision in exactly the hands most likely to be conflicted.
Post-employment restrictions are one of the primary legal tools preventing the revolving door from enabling direct conflicts of interest. Without them, a senior official could build relationships with agency contractors, leave to work for a contractor, and immediately use those relationships to win new government business — or return to government and immediately steer contracts to their former employer. The restrictions create friction at each transition. Ethics waivers, when granted by politically aligned appointing officials, can eliminate that friction entirely.
Post-employment restrictions are often confused with conflict-of-interest rules that apply while an official is still in government. The post-employment rules specifically govern what former officials can do after they leave — particularly representational activities and communications directed at their former agency. They don't prevent former officials from being hired by private companies; they restrict what those officials can do once hired.
Post-employment restrictions are one of the primary legal tools preventing the revolving door from enabling direct conflicts of interest. Without them, a senior official could build relationships with agency contractors, leave to work for a contractor, and immediately use those relationships to win new government business — or return to government and immediately steer contracts to their former employer. The restrictions create friction at each transition. Ethics waivers, when granted by politically aligned appointing officials, can eliminate that friction entirely.
Post-employment restrictions are often confused with conflict-of-interest rules that apply while an official is still in government. The post-employment rules specifically govern what former officials can do after they leave — particularly representational activities and communications directed at their former agency. They don't prevent former officials from being hired by private companies; they restrict what those officials can do once hired.