Federal Employee Gift Prohibition — 5 U.S.C. §§ 7351-7353 and OGE Standards of Conduct

5 U.S.C. § 7353 is the federal statutory backbone for the gift prohibition that applies to every officer and employee of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The rule is broad: no federal official may solicit or accept anything of value from anyone seeking official action from, doing business with, or regulated by their agency — or from anyone whose interests may be affected by their official duties. The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) implements the executive branch version through 5 CFR Part 2635, which sets a specific $20-per-gift limit and a $50-per-year aggregate limit from any single source, with enumerated exceptions. A companion provision, 5 U.S.C. § 7351, separately prohibits gifts between supervisors and subordinates within the federal workforce. Together, these statutes prevent the accumulation of obligations and conflicts of interest that arise when federal officials accept things of value from the people their agencies regulate, fund, contract with, or take action on. For congressional-specific gift rules (which have a separate $50/$100 structure and their own enforcement committees), see Congressional Ethics — Gifts, Travel & Post-Employment Restrictions.

Current Law (2026)

The Core Prohibition — § 7353

Section 7353 bars soliciting or accepting anything of value from two categories of persons:

Category 1 — Those who deal with the employee's agency:

• Anyone seeking official action from the employing entity
• Anyone doing business with the employing entity
• (For executive branch employees specifically) anyone conducting activities regulated by the employing entity

Category 2 — Those with a stake in the employee's work:

• Anyone whose interests may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the employee's official duties

"Anything of value" is not limited to cash. It includes meals, entertainment, tickets, transportation, lodging, discounts not available to the public, loans at below-market rates, services, and any other tangible or intangible benefit.

The OGE $20/$50 Standard — 5 CFR Part 2635

Section 7353 delegates the specific rules to each supervising ethics office. For the executive branch, OGE's 5 CFR Part 2635 Subparts B and C provide the operational framework:

The $20 rule

An executive branch employee may not accept any gift worth more than $20 from a single source in any single instance, and may not accept gifts totaling more than $50 from the same source in any calendar year. Market value controls — if a gift is worth $25 retail, it is prohibited even if the donor paid less.

Gifts between employees — § 7351 and 5 CFR 2635 Subpart C

Separately from outside gifts, supervisors and subordinates face their own restrictions:

• An employee may not give a gift to a supervisor, contribute to a group gift for a supervisor, or accept a gift from a subordinate
• Exceptions: gifts on "special and infrequent occasions" (marriage, birth of child, retirement) up to $10; food and refreshments shared in the office; personal hospitality at a home at a level the employee can afford

Exceptions to the outside-source prohibition

Several categories of gifts are permitted even from covered sources:

Widely attended events. Free attendance at a widely attended event (conference, reception, ceremony) where the invitation serves a legitimate agency interest, provided the market value does not exceed a reasonable threshold and attendance is authorized in advance.

Speaking and representing the agency. When an employee speaks at a conference or represents the agency, free attendance, travel, and reasonable meals may be accepted from the event sponsor.

Personal relationships. Gifts based on a personal friendship that clearly predate and are independent of the official relationship — birthdays, weddings, holidays — may be accepted if the size and circumstances are consistent with the relationship.

Publicly available discounts and perks. Discounts and benefits available to the public or to a class of persons (e.g., government employees as a class, veterans, members of professional associations) are generally permitted.

Awards and honorary degrees. From entities not regulated by or doing business with the agency.

Free attendance to inspect facilities. Site visits, facility tours, or demonstrations of products or services where attendance is in the agency's interest.

Gifts not covered by § 7353. Gifts from family members; inheritance; bequests; items received under circumstances that make clear they have nothing to do with official duties.

Gifts to Supervisors — § 7351

Section 7351 addresses intra-government gift flows. An employee:

• May not solicit contributions from colleagues for a gift to an official superior
• May not donate as a gift or give a gift to a superior
• May not accept a gift from a subordinate who earns less pay

Violations are subject to disciplinary action by the employing agency. Each supervising ethics office may issue implementing regulations with "reasonable exceptions" (e.g., the wedding/retirement/birth exceptions above).

The Bribery Line

The gift prohibition at § 7353 is distinct from the federal bribery statute (18 U.S.C. § 201), though they overlap. Bribery requires a quid pro quo — a specific agreement to perform or be influenced in an official act in exchange for something of value. The gift prohibition is prophylactic: it applies regardless of whether any official act was influenced or even intended. A $30 lunch from a government contractor violates § 7353/5 CFR 2635 even if no action was ever contemplated. Accepting $10,000 to award a contract is bribery. Both can be true simultaneously.

Enforcement

Executive branch: OGE sets the standards; individual agencies enforce them through their designated agency ethics officials (DAEOs). Agency ethics programs provide annual training, review disclosure reports, and advise employees on specific situations. Violations result in agency-level discipline: reprimand, suspension, demotion, or removal. In egregious cases involving deliberate circumvention, criminal referral to DOJ is possible.

Congress: The House Committee on Ethics and Senate Select Committee on Ethics enforce the parallel rules in Title 2. Congressional gift rules are slightly more permissive than executive branch rules in some respects (the statutory limit is $50 per gift, not $20) but the absolute ban on gifts from registered lobbyists (2 U.S.C. § 1613) is stricter.

Judiciary: The Judicial Conference issues ethics regulations for judges under 5 U.S.C. § 7353(d). Judicial gift rules are in the Code of Conduct for United States Judges.

How It Affects You

If you're a federal employee receiving gifts or invitations: The $20-per-gift and $50-per-year limits are based on market value, not what the donor paid or what they claim it's worth. A bottle of wine worth $30 is a prohibited gift even if the donor says it was "just a small token." Before accepting anything from a person or organization that deals with your agency — a conference registration, a sponsored dinner, a product sample — ask your agency Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) for a written opinion. DAEOs exist at every agency precisely for this purpose, and their job is to say yes or no before the violation happens. OGE's directory of agency ethics offices is at oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/Agency+Program. The "I didn't know" defense does not prevent disciplinary action; the "I asked ethics first and followed their advice" defense almost always does.

If your company or organization does business with federal agencies: Government-relations staff, account managers, and anyone who interacts with federal program officers need training on the $20/$50 rule before they accidentally trigger an ethics complaint. Common violations: holiday gift baskets to program offices ($25–$75 market value — prohibited), taking a contracting officer to lunch and picking up a tab over $20 (prohibited even if routine in the private sector), sponsoring a conference where federal employees attend for free (permitted only if structured as a "widely attended event" with proper advance approval). A single gift rule violation can trigger a procurement integrity inquiry that delays your contract award and damages the relationship you were trying to build. OGE's oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/Resources has agency-specific guidance and plain-language summaries. For companies with significant federal contracting footprints, annual ethics training for government-facing staff is a standard compliance investment.

If you lobby or advocate before federal agencies: Registered lobbyists under the Lobbying Disclosure Act are already subject to a zero-dollar gift ban to Members of Congress and their staff (2 U.S.C. § 1613) — you cannot give anything of value, period. But the executive branch operates under the $20/$50 OGE rule, not the LDA zero-dollar rule. Being an unregistered advocate does not exempt you from § 7353: if your organization seeks official action from a federal agency, does business with it, or is regulated by it, the rule applies to your interactions with agency employees regardless of whether you file LDA reports. The "widely attended event" exception is your most important tool — agency employees can attend industry conferences you sponsor if the event is genuinely open to a broad audience and attendance serves a legitimate agency interest. Get the specific advance authorization procedures from the agency's ethics office before the event, not after. OGE publishes the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees in plain language at oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/Gift%20Rules.

If you manage federal employees or run an agency team: The supervisor-subordinate rules under § 7351 and 5 CFR 2635 Subpart C create a distinct compliance layer for internal team dynamics. You cannot accept a gift from anyone you supervise who earns less than you — and that includes group gifts where subordinates pool contributions. The permitted exceptions are narrow: food or refreshments shared in the office; personal hospitality at the supervisor's own home at a scale they could afford from personal funds; and "special and infrequent occasions" gifts (retirement, marriage, birth of a child) with a $10 per-employee contribution cap. End-of-year "thank you" gifts from the team to the boss, holiday collections for the manager, and birthday presents all fall into the prohibited category unless structured within these exceptions. Enforce these rules proactively — supervisors who accept improper gifts from subordinates face both ethics discipline and the appearance of favoritism in performance evaluations and promotions.

State Variations

Title 5's gift prohibition applies only to federal officers and employees. State and local government employees are subject to their states' ethics laws, which vary widely. Some states are more restrictive (near-zero gift limits, required disclosure of any gift), others are less so. Federal contractors operating in multiple states may face a patchwork of state-level gift rules on top of the federal standard.

Recent Developments

OGE has issued supplemental guidance in recent years on emerging gift contexts — travel and accommodation provided by foreign governments, hospitality at foreign trade shows, and virtual event participation (where the "gift" is a virtual conference registration). The Trump administration's 2017 ethics pledge imposed stricter revolving-door restrictions on appointees by executive order but did not change the statutory § 7353 gift framework. Proposed legislation in successive Congresses to lower the $20 limit or eliminate exceptions for widely attended events has not advanced. The Biden administration reaffirmed the OGE framework and issued updated guidance on gifts from foreign governments. Enforcement actions — mostly administrative discipline rather than criminal prosecution — continue to be handled at the agency level with limited public visibility.