Reading Room Document

Attribution of Outside Earned Income Under the Ethics in Government Act

The Federal Election Commission rule that allows federal employees to defer receipt of income from honoraria, so as to avoid the annual ceiling of $25,000 imposed by 2 U S.C. § 4411, does not apply to the provision m the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, which limits outside earned income for presidential appointees to 15 percent of their salary. For purposes of determining whether this 15 percent limit has been met, income will be attributed to the year in which the services relating to it were performed. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/22931/download.

January 28, 1982