Same-Domain Concurrent Employment Conflict — Engineer A DOE Coal Bed Methane
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/145#Same-Domain_Concurrent_Employment_Conflict_—_Engineer_A_DOE_Coal_Bed_Methane
Properties
Instance of
Same-DomainConcurrentPublic-PrivateEmploymentConflictProhibition
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#Same-DomainConcurrentPublic-PrivateEmploymentConflictProhibition
Applied to
Engineer A's dual employment in coal bed methane domain
Balancing with
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits
Loyalty
Concrete expression
Engineer A, employed in the coal bed methane division of the U.S. DOE, simultaneously performed private consulting for coal bed methane companies — the identical technical domain — making independent judgment and faithful agency to his government employer virtually impossible
Confidence
0.93
Importance
high
Interpretation
The complete identity of subject matter between the government role and the private consulting work — both in coal bed methane — represents the most extreme form of dual-role conflict, eliminating any possibility of maintaining the separation required by the faithful agent obligation
Invoked by
Engineer A DOE Coal Bed Methane Private Consultant
Tension resolution
No balancing is possible; the Board found the conflict virtually irreconcilable due to same-domain identity, distinguishing it from the airport/highway case where domains were merely linked
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients
Text references
As an employee of the U.S. Department of Energy, working in the coal bed methane division of the U.S. DOE, Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients—which the facts suggest Engineer A in fact did.
This case seems to present a more extreme example of the ethical issues involved in a situation of this type.
To do so would be to breach the basic trust as an honest and faithful agent for his employer.
TTL
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<http://proethica.org/ontology/case/145#Same-Domain_Concurrent_Employment_Conflict_—_Engineer_A_DOE_Coal_Bed_Methane> a proeth:Same-DomainConcurrentPublic-PrivateEmploymentConflictProhibition,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Same-Domain Concurrent Employment Conflict — Engineer A DOE Coal Bed Methane" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's dual employment in coal bed methane domain" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits",
"Loyalty" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A, employed in the coal bed methane division of the U.S. DOE, simultaneously performed private consulting for coal bed methane companies — the identical technical domain — making independent judgment and faithful agency to his government employer virtually impossible" ;
proeth:confidence "0.93" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "145" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-28T18:20:54.697195+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "145" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-28T18:20:54.697195+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The complete identity of subject matter between the government role and the private consulting work — both in coal bed methane — represents the most extreme form of dual-role conflict, eliminating any possibility of maintaining the separation required by the faithful agent obligation" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A DOE Coal Bed Methane Private Consultant" ;
proeth:principleclass "Same-Domain Concurrent Public-Private Employment Conflict Prohibition" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "No balancing is possible; the Board found the conflict virtually irreconcilable due to same-domain identity, distinguishing it from the airport/highway case where domains were merely linked" ;
proeth:textreferences "As an employee of the U.S. Department of Energy, working in the coal bed methane division of the U.S. DOE, Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients—which the facts suggest Engineer A in fact did.",
"This case seems to present a more extreme example of the ethical issues involved in a situation of this type.",
"To do so would be to breach the basic trust as an honest and faithful agent for his employer." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 145 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-28T18:32:03.177832"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 145 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
145
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-28T18:20:54.697195+00:00
First case
145
Generated
2026-02-28T18:20:54.697195+00:00
Attributed to
Case 145 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-28T18:32:03.177832
Generated by
ProEthica Case 145 Extraction