TSA and outside employment

How many people this actually covers

TSA publishes its own headcount, and it is worth stating plainly because these rules reach a very large workforce: nearly 65,000 employees, including approximately 50,000 transportation security officers, alongside transportation security inspectors, security specialists and administrative staff. They screen an average of nearly 2.5 million passengers a day at around 440 airports.

Those figures count the whole workforce, and most of it is not sworn. The next section sets out who inside TSA actually holds law enforcement authority, because the two groups are governed differently and it is easy to assume everyone in a TSA uniform is the same thing.

The figure is also moving. The FY2027 budget request proposes eliminating funding for about 8,385 positions and shifting screening at smaller airports to the Screening Partnership Program, so treat any headcount as a snapshot with a date on it.

Who inside TSA is actually a law enforcement officer

TSA defines this itself, and narrowly. Under MD 3500.2, Use of Force and Firearms, a TSA Law Enforcement Officer is an employee authorized by the Administrator to execute the authorities in 49 U.S.C. § 114(p), and the directive lists exactly which positions qualify:

• Criminal Investigators, job series 1811 — the Office of Inspection's special agents, who investigate criminal activity and insider threats.
• Federal Air Marshals, series 1801.
• Assistant Federal Security Directors for Law Enforcement (AFSD-LE), series 1801.
• Transportation Security Specialists — Law Enforcement (TSS-LE), series 1801.

Everyone else is not. A transportation security officer screens passengers and property: no firearm, no arrest authority, no criminal citations. When something at the checkpoint turns criminal it goes to the airport's own police. Transportation security inspectors are regulatory — they audit compliance with security programmes, which is not the same as enforcing criminal law.

Canine teams cut across the line, which catches people out. Some explosives detection teams are run by state or local police partners, whose handlers are sworn officers of those departments. TSA's own handlers are not.

The distinction is not academic, and it shows up in pay. Under MD 1100.88-1, Law Enforcement Position Standards and Hiring Requirements, Law Enforcement Availability Pay is 25 per cent of a Criminal Investigator's or Federal Air Marshal's basic rate, subject to the biweekly earnings limitation on combined basic and locality pay. LEAP is paid for being available for substantial unscheduled duty — which is a real consideration before taking on anything else.

TSA does not publish how many of its people fall into the law enforcement group. Federal Air Marshal Service strength in particular is withheld as security information, and that is unlikely to change. So this page carries no sworn-strength figure — not because none exists, but because the agency does not release one.

There is no detail system here

Most agencies on this site regulate officers working private security in uniform — a coordinator, a vendor, an hourly rate. None of that exists at TSA. A screening officer is not hired out to a business, and TSA publishes no rate card.

What TSA publishes instead are two directives that between them decide whether a second job is allowed at all: MD 1100.73-5, Employee Responsibilities and Code of Conduct, which prohibits outside employment or activity conflicting with official duties, and MD 1100.30-11, Dual Federal Employment, which governs holding more than one federal position at the same time.

Forty hours, added up across every federal job

This is the rule with no equivalent anywhere else in this section. TSA limits an employee's pay for dual federal employment to no more than 40 hours of aggregate work in one calendar week, Sunday to Saturday, excluding overtime.

It is a ceiling on the total, not on the second job. An employee already working a full TSA week has no room left underneath it, and the arithmetic is done across appointments rather than per employer.

Three conditions must all hold: the aggregate stays within 40 hours; the additional employment does not conflict with the employee's official TSA duties, as confirmed by Chief Counsel; and it does not affect their fitness for duty or their ability to report to work on time.

TSA is the primary employer, and the clash is yours to fix

The directive defines primary employment as the employer for all purposes — scheduling work, assigning shifts, scheduling training, temporary duty travel and approval of leave — and states plainly that TSA employment is the primary employment.

Then it puts the consequence on the individual: it is incumbent upon the employee to work out any scheduling conflict with the other federal agency. TSA does not negotiate on their behalf and does not move a shift to make the second job fit.

Holding concurrent positions at two federal agencies is acceptable only when the management officials of both agree in writing. Each appointment gets its own SF-50, carrying the remark M36, concurrent employment.

Ask before you accept, and ask the right office

The employee's own responsibilities are ordered. Check with the Office of Chief Counsel that no restriction or conflict exists before accepting additional federal employment, then notify their supervisor, Human Capital and Chief Counsel before accepting it.

Chief Counsel is the only office authorized to give ethics advice. A supervisor's blessing is not clearance, and neither is a local human resources answer.

The exemptions, and they are narrow

Five things escape the 40-hour cap. A member of a uniformed service on terminal leave pending separation may hold a civilian position on any schedule. Reservists and National Guard members may draw military pay alongside TSA pay — though one called to active duty cannot perform the civilian job at the same time.

The Postal Service is named specifically, and the condition matters: the USPS appointment must be a career position covered by CSRS or FERS. A temporary or non-career USPS job covered only by FICA does not qualify.

A TSA seasonal employee on leave without pay after a periodic release may take additional federal work while in that status. And the Assistant Administrator for Human Capital may exempt specific positions where mission requirements justify it.

Two things are closed off rather than opened. Leave without pay may not be granted for the sole purpose of taking other employment. And unpaid volunteer service to the federal government is generally prohibited outright.

What breaking it costs

An employee found in violation of the 40-hour pay limitation may become indebted to the United States Government — the money can be reclaimed — and may also face corrective, disciplinary or adverse action up to removal from TSA.

The benefits arithmetic is worth understanding before taking a second federal job. Leave accrues separately at each agency and may only be used at the agency where it was earned. Retirement deductions come from the combined adjusted pay, and calendar time counts once rather than twice. Life insurance and health benefits are all-or-none across appointments, with the agency paying the most making the deductions.

The conduct rule sitting underneath all of it

MD 1100.73-5 requires employees to comply with the Standards of Ethical Conduct at 5 CFR Part 2635, the conflict-of-interest statutes at 18 U.S.C. 201-209 and the Hatch Act, and states that employees shall not use their office or position for their own advantage or another's.

Its off-duty clause is unusually wide. While on or off duty, employees are expected to conduct themselves in a way that does not adversely reflect on TSA or cause the public to question their reliability, judgment or trustworthiness — and it adds that this applies regardless of whether the conduct is legal or tolerated in the place it happened.

Arrests, summonses and citations requiring a court appearance must be reported to a supervisor within 24 hours. Routine traffic citations needing no court appearance need not be; anything involving DUI, DWI or illegal drug use must be.

What these directives do not tell you

Neither document sets out an application form or an approval route for ordinary outside employment with a private employer. MD 1100.30-11 covers a second federal job; MD 1100.73-5 states the conflict standard and points to its Handbook for the procedure, which is a separate document.

Scope is worth checking too. The dual federal employment directive applies to all TSA employees except the Transportation Security Executive Service. Bargaining unit employees should also read their collective bargaining agreement, which these directives repeatedly defer to.

Vehicles

This policy does not deal with vehicles — it does not say whether an agency car may be taken on an off-duty job, or what one costs. That is a gap in the document, not a prohibition.

Common questions

Is a TSA officer a law enforcement officer?

Usually not. TSA's own directive limits the term to Criminal Investigators (1811), Federal Air Marshals, Assistant Federal Security Directors for Law Enforcement and Transportation Security Specialists — Law Enforcement. Transportation security officers, who are the large majority of the workforce, screen passengers and property and have no arrest authority.

Can a TSA employee hold a second job?

Yes, subject to the conflict standard. A second federal job is capped: total paid hours across all federal appointments may not exceed 40 in one calendar week, excluding overtime, unless an exemption applies.

Who has to approve it?

The Office of Chief Counsel confirms no conflict exists and must be asked before the employee accepts. The supervisor and Human Capital must also be notified beforehand. Chief Counsel is the only office authorized to give ethics advice.

Whose schedule takes priority?

TSA's. TSA employment is the primary employment for scheduling, shift assignment, training, travel and leave, and the employee is responsible for resolving any clash with the other agency.

Can a TSA employee work for the Postal Service?

Yes — it is one of the named exemptions to the 40-hour cap, but only where the USPS appointment is a career position covered by CSRS or FERS, not a temporary or non-career one covered only by FICA.

What happens if the 40 hours is exceeded?

The employee may become indebted to the United States Government for the excess pay, and may face corrective, disciplinary or adverse action up to removal.