Reading Room Document

Applicability of 18 U.S.C. § 205 to Union Organizing Activities of Department of Justice Employee

The representational bar in 18 U.S.C. § 205 applies to union organizing activities of a federal employee in which he acts as "agent or attorney" for other federal employees before their agency. The definition of "agency" in 18 U.S.C. § 6 is an expansive one, which establishes a presumption that a governmental entity is an agency for purposes of a given criminal offense, including offenses involving a conflict of interest, and includes entities in the legislative branch. Even if certain provisions in Title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) specifically protect a federal employee's organizational and representational activities under that Act, notwithstanding the general bar in § 205, those provisions do not apply in this case because the employee group seeking recognition is not a "labor organization" under the CSRA. 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/22686/download.

June 26, 1981