Civil Service FAQ FREE Employee Ethical Conduct Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A civil service employee receives a gift basket from a contractor whose bid is currently under review. What is the appropriate action?
- Accept it as a personal courtesy unrelated to work
- Return the gift and report it to a supervisor (Correct answer)
- Keep it but disclose it to HR after the bid is decided
- Share it with coworkers to avoid personal benefit
Correct answer: Return the gift and report it to a supervisor
Accepting gifts from parties involved in pending government decisions violates ethics rules and creates the appearance of impropriety.
Question 2: Which principle best describes the obligation of civil service employees to use government resources solely for official purposes?
- Impartiality
- Stewardship (Correct answer)
- Transparency
- Accountability
Correct answer: Stewardship
Stewardship requires employees to protect and properly use public resources entrusted to them.
Question 3: An employee discovers that a coworker is falsifying time sheets. Under federal ethics rules, what should the employee do?
- Confront the coworker directly and demand they stop
- Report the misconduct through official channels such as an Inspector General hotline (Correct answer)
- Ignore it to avoid workplace conflict
- Discuss it only with trusted coworkers
Correct answer: Report the misconduct through official channels such as an Inspector General hotline
Federal employees have a duty to report known violations of law or regulations through proper reporting mechanisms.
Question 4: A civil service manager awards a contract to a company owned by their brother-in-law without disclosing the relationship. This is an example of:
- Acceptable discretionary authority
- A conflict of interest (Correct answer)
- Standard procurement practice
- An allowable personal preference
Correct answer: A conflict of interest
Awarding contracts to family members without disclosure violates conflict-of-interest regulations and procurement integrity rules.
Question 5: Under the Hatch Act, which of the following activities is generally PROHIBITED for most federal employees?
- Voting in federal elections
- Displaying a political bumper sticker on a personal vehicle
- Running as a partisan candidate for public office (Correct answer)
- Attending a political fundraiser as a private citizen
Correct answer: Running as a partisan candidate for public office
The Hatch Act bars most federal employees from running as candidates in partisan political elections.
Question 6: A federal employee is asked by a supervisor to perform a task that appears to violate agency policy. The employee should:
- Comply immediately since supervisors have authority
- Refuse and submit an anonymous complaint
- Seek clarification and, if confirmed improper, report it through appropriate ethics or legal channels (Correct answer)
- Perform the task but keep a personal record
Correct answer: Seek clarification and, if confirmed improper, report it through appropriate ethics or legal channels
Employees must follow lawful orders but are obligated to refuse and report directives that violate law or policy.
Civil Service FAQ FREE Employee Ethical Conduct Questions and Answers 2
A civil service employee receives a gift basket from a contractor whose bid is currently under review.
What is the appropriate action?