Alleged Ethics Violations by a Former SOL Employee

OIG investigated allegations that a former attorney-advisor for the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of the Solicitor (SOL), may have violated post-employment restrictions by representing a DOI employee in her Equal Employment Opportunity complaint against the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The former attorney-advisor made a counter allegation that she was the subject of harassment by the SOL. We found no evidence the former attorney-advisor was involved in matters during her tenure at DOI that would have prohibited her from representing her client. We also determined the former attorney-advisor’s counter allegation was outside our investigative purview.