Telephone Use

Government provided telephones and telecommunication equipment and services are for official business.  Employee may make and received personal telephone calls during duty hours that are necessary and in the interest of the Government.

Examples of personal calls that are in the interest of the Government are call to:

	Alert household members about working late or other schedule changes;
	Make alternative child care arrangements;
	Talk with doctors, hospital staff, or day care providers;
	Determine the safety of family or household members, particularly in an emergency;
	Make funeral arrangements;
	Reach businesses or Government agencies that can only be contacted during work hours;
	Arrange emergency repairs to vehicles or residences.

Employees may make and receive a limited number of purely personal calls during duty hours (purely personal calls are those determined not to be necessary in the interest of the Government) from Government telephones when those calls do not incur additional charges to the Government. In making purely personal calls, employees shall ensure that: all long-distance calls are made at their own expense; e.g., charged to personal calling or credit cards, home telephones, or other non-Government telephone numbers; the calls do not adversely affect the performance of official duties or the organization's work performance; and the calls are of reasonable duration and frequency.

Reasonableness and common sense are the guiding principles.  Supervisors and managers determine whether brief personal telephone calls are of reasonable length, and in the interest of the Government, based on employees' work schedule, co-worker needs, office work demands, length of work day, etc. Personal calls in excess of three times a day, and longer than 10 minutes each are normally to be considered unreasonable.

Office Equipment

Employees on non-duty time are allowed limited use of office equipment for personal uses that involve only negligible expense to the Government (such as electricity, sheets of paper, ink, and ordinary wear and tear) and do not interfere with official business. For purposes of this policy, office equipment includes copy machines, computers, printers, and fax machines. Copy machines, fax machines, and printers are for official business; however, personal use of less than ten pages per week is permissible on occasion. See section 6 for equipment prohibited from personal use by this policy.

Loading personally-owned software (such as tax preparation programs, computer games, etc.) on Government machines is prohibited. Color copiers and color printers when used to print in color, are excluded from this policy at this time due to high associated costs. Employees may not use official stationery, envelopes, or postage for personal purposes under any circumstances.

Internet Use

See Internet Acceptable Use policy