Former City Employees

1. Can I accept a job offer from a City contractor or vendor?
   
   Answer: Yes, a City employee may accept a position with a City contractor or vendor. However, once you begin considering changing employment, you will have to observe certain restrictions on your activities whether or not you accept the job or remain a City employee.
   
   For example, you must immediately disqualify yourself from official actions affecting the entity with which you are considering employment. The potential employment move raises many issues under the Ethics Code, including appearance of impaired judgment and use of position for personal gain. Because of this, you must immediately inform the prospective employer that you are no longer involved in the company's dealings with the City, such as overseeing their contract or participating in purchasing decisions, while the potential job is under discussion. If either party ends the employment discussion, the employee still may not immediately resume an official role with the company. The Commission believes that in most cases waiting a year before engaging in further dealings with the entity is appropriate, but if you believe that a shorter or longer wait may be appropriate, you are encouraged to consult with the Commission.
   
   If you do take the job, for one year after you leave the City, you cannot assist or represent your new employer on any matter that you worked on as a City employee. The Code says that after leaving the City, employees must wait one year before they can (i) assist others in proceedings involving their former agency, (ii) assist or represent others on matters in which they were officially involved, or (iii) compete for contracts when they helped determine the scope of work or the process for selecting the contractor. And you may never use or share with the entity any priviledged or proprietary information that you've acquired in the course of your City job.
   
   If a company makes you a job offer but you are genuinely not interested and inform them immediately, or if you inquire about a job but there is no encouragement from the company (in other words, if there never is a "mutuality of interest") then you may continue to have official dealings with the company.
   
   
2. Can a former City employee bid on a contract with her former division or department?
   
   Answer: Yes, unless during the previous twelve months the former City employee participated in development of the scope of work or the contractor selection process.

For the Code of Ethics prohibited conduct after leaving the City,
see SMC 4.16.075 or contact the SEEC for advice.