Ethics Corner

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles provided by the Staff Judge Advocate.

Public service is a public trust, and all DoD employees are expected to act ethically at all times. This series on ethics presents cautionary examples drawn from the DoD Standards of Conduct Office Encyclopedia of Ethical Failures. If you have questions about ethics or are unsure about a certain course of conduct, contact the NASCC Staff Judge Advocate’s office by calling 361-961-3535. Most of the cases outlined in this series could have been avoided if the offender had simply asked for guidance!

Today’s story is about two executives who decided that golf was their higher calling:

For a period of several years, two top executives at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center had an astonishing work record — they took nearly no vacation time at all. The reason, investigators soon discovered, was that the executives had been taking “religious compensatory time” instead. Curiously, the executives’ absences seldom fell on any traditionally-observed religious holidays. Instead, investigators found that the pair’s so-called religious observances took place on days when they had medical appointments, sightseeing trips, and golf tournaments. Asked whether golf tournaments could be considered religious observances, one executive replied, “They could be for some people.”

Unamused, the Inspector General found that the two had made a “premeditated, conspiratorial effort to defraud the Government,” and forced them into retirement. Religious compensatory time is available for government employees who need to observe religious requirements – but even then, it needs to be made up at a later time.