A federal ethics rule tells executive-branch employees which gifts they may keep. An employee may accept unsolicited gifts worth “$20 or less per source per occasion.” Gifts from one source may not add up to more than $50 in a calendar year. The exception never covers cash.
The rule gives examples. A representative of a regulated entity offers an SEC employee and spouse two theater tickets at $30 each. “The employee may not accept the gift of the evening of entertainment.” The couple may go only if the employee pays the full $60. A speaker who receives a framed map worth $18 and a mug worth $15 “may accept the map or the mug, but not both.”