Loyalty Obligation of U.S. Agency Engineers to Federal Employer
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/102#Loyalty_Obligation_of_U.S._Agency_Engineers_to_Federal_Employer
Properties
Instance of
Applied to
Negotiations with private consulting firms while still employed by U.S. Agency
Balancing with
At-Will Employment Symmetry and Engineer Mobility Right
Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint
Concrete expression
The U.S. Agency engineers owed an undivided duty of loyalty to their federal employer while still employed, which was violated when they negotiated private contracts for work directly related to the basic plans they had prepared in their public capacity.
Confidence
0.95
Importance
high
Interpretation
Loyalty in the public employment context requires that engineers refrain from using their employment position, access, and knowledge to advance competing private interests while the employment relationship subsists.
Invoked by
U.S. Agency Engineers Group
Tension resolution
The duty of loyalty was not discharged by the eventual resignation; the violation occurred during the period of active negotiation while still employed, making the timing of resignation ethically insufficient to cure the breach.
Source Evidence
Source text
Several engineers in the employ of the U.S. Agency responsible for the basic plans negotiated with at least two engineering firms with the intent of taking part in the design and supervision of the work.
Text references
At or about the time the negotiations with the foreign government were concluded, this group of engineers resigned their positions with the U.S. Agency
Several engineers in the employ of the U.S. Agency responsible for the basic plans negotiated with at least two engineering firms with the intent of taking part in the design and supervision of the work.
TTL
@prefix case102: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/102#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case102:Loyalty_Obligation_of_U.S._Agency_Engineers_to_Federal_Employer a proeth:Loyalty,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Loyalty Obligation of U.S. Agency Engineers to Federal Employer" ;
proeth:appliedto "Negotiations with private consulting firms while still employed by U.S. Agency" ;
proeth:balancingwith "At-Will Employment Symmetry and Engineer Mobility Right",
"Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The U.S. Agency engineers owed an undivided duty of loyalty to their federal employer while still employed, which was violated when they negotiated private contracts for work directly related to the basic plans they had prepared in their public capacity." ;
proeth:confidence "0.95" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "102" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-02T16:08:17.013024+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "102" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-02T16:08:17.013024+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "Loyalty in the public employment context requires that engineers refrain from using their employment position, access, and knowledge to advance competing private interests while the employment relationship subsists." ;
proeth:invokedby "U.S. Agency Engineers Group" ;
proeth:principleclass "Loyalty" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Several engineers in the employ of the U.S. Agency responsible for the basic plans negotiated with at least two engineering firms with the intent of taking part in the design and supervision of the work." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The duty of loyalty was not discharged by the eventual resignation; the violation occurred during the period of active negotiation while still employed, making the timing of resignation ethically insufficient to cure the breach." ;
proeth:textreferences "At or about the time the negotiations with the foreign government were concluded, this group of engineers resigned their positions with the U.S. Agency",
"Several engineers in the employ of the U.S. Agency responsible for the basic plans negotiated with at least two engineering firms with the intent of taking part in the design and supervision of the work." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 102 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-02T16:27:05.297741"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 102 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
102
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-03-02T16:08:17.013024+00:00
First case
102
Generated
2026-03-02T16:08:17.013024+00:00
Attributed to
Case 102 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-02T16:27:05.297741
Generated by
ProEthica Case 102 Extraction