The communications director for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was recently caught doubling as a fashion influencer on social media — while using her government office as a backdrop in an apparent violation of federal rules.

That's according to a Tuesday article in CNN, which reported that McLaurine Pinover posted videos of herself modeling clothing to her Instagram account from her OPM office. Some of those videos included affiliate links to sites where the clothing she was wearing was being sold. Pinover was eligible to be paid commission based on site visitors who bought those clothing items after clicking the links from Pinover's videos.

CNN further reported that Pinover was working as an influencer while simultaneously "defending mass layoffs of federal workers" as an employee of OPM's communications office. The network's Audrey Ash, Curt Devine and Casey Tolan observed that Pinover "posted a video blowing a kiss to the camera with the caption 'work look' and the hashtag #dcinfluencer" on the same day her employer "sent a government-wide memo pressing federal officials to identify barriers they faced in their work to 'swiftly terminate poor performing employees.'"

On February 13 — the same day OPM held a call with multiple federal agencies instructing them to fire thousands of probationary employees — Pinover posted another fashion-related video to her Instagram account. Several former OPM staffers said that was also the same day that roughly 20 of Pinover's coworkers in the agency's communications office were laid off.

"While her team is getting axed, she’s twirling around in her office," a former OPM employee told CNN.

The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (ECFR) has explicit rules for federal employees mandating that only official work be performed during official work hours, especially while using agency office space. ECFR § 2635.705 instructs employees to "use official time in an honest effort to perform official duties."

"Employees not under a leave system, including Presidential appointees exempted under 5 U.S.C. 6301(2), have an obligation to expend an honest effort and a reasonable proportion of their time in the performance of official duties," ECFR guidelines read.

CNN reported that many of Pinover's videos were posted during the daytime, and during work hours. However, Pinover's Instagram handle, @getdressedwithmc, was apparently deleted several minutes after the network contacted her.

Pinover added content to her Instagram account regularly, where she had approximately 800 followers, and her most recent video was posted Tuesday. One former OPM communications staffer recognized the background as the office of the agency's communications director, who said: “I saw it, and I was like, ‘Are you kidding me, that’s my office.'"

“She’s the spokesperson for the agency that is advocating for the firing based on performance and efficiency of the rest of the government workforce, and she’s using government property as a backdrop for her videos," the staffer said.

South African centibillionaire Elon Musk, who unofficially leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has asserted on multiple occasions that federal agencies are rife with unproductive employees. In January, he posted to his X social media platform: "Pretending to work while taking money from taxpayers is no longer acceptable."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet