California expanding nepotism rule to cover exes and domestic partners in hiring guidelines
Domestic partners and ex-spouses would fall under California state government’s nepotism rule under a new State Personnel Board proposal.
The board, which is crafting a rule that would require all state departments to adopt anti-nepotism policies, recently tweaked its proposed definition of nepotism to cover the new categories of relationships based on public feedback.
Relationships based on marriage, blood and adoption clearly met the nepotism criteria, as did cohabitation, but other relationships were more difficult to categorize, State Personnel Board Executive Director Suzanne Ambrose said.
The board included domestic partnerships since they “constitute a familial relationship that is legally distinct from ‘marriage’” but domestic partners don’t necessarily live together, so they might not fall under the cohabitation part of the definition, according to a summary of written comments the board posted online.
The board also agreed with a suggestion from the Department of Health Care Services that former familial relationships could bias the hiring process, or at least create the impression of bias, according to the summary.
The board stopped short of broadening the definition to include “any other personal relationship which may adversely affect the ability of a supervisor or manager to fairly and impartially supervise staff,” as the Health Care Services Department suggested.
“What we’re trying to get at here is family relationships — blood, marriage, adoption,” Ambrose said. “Not necessarily because you are friends with somebody.”
The state is not allowed to prohibit coworkers from getting married or being friends. Working with a relative isn’t illegal, nor will it be under the new proposal. What is illegal is trying to influence the hiring process to benefit a friend or family member.
The state has separate merit rules prohibiting favoritism in the state civil service system, which covers some of the improper hires not included in the nepotism rule, Ambrose said.
California’s 1934 civil service law says hiring must be based on merit, but the law didn’t create civil service statutes or regulations that specifically prohibit nepotism.
The board discovered in routine audits in 2019 that nine out of 29 departments lacked nepotism policies, according to a report the board submitted to the Legislature.
The board started crafting a statewide anti-nepotism policy to set a statewide standard.
The effort followed a couple high-profile nepotism scandals in the state.
The Department of Industrial Relations froze hiring and voided a promotion in 2019 after the State Auditor and the personnel board each found a web of nepotism had helped former director Christine Baker hire and promote her daughter.
The Legislature stripped the tax-collecting Board of Equalization of most of its powers in 2017 after auditors found about 800 employees among 4,200 were related to each other.
The board tweaked the definitions following a 45-day public comment period. It then made revisions and opened up the proposed rule to more public comments for 15 days ending April 5. If it makes more changes, it will post the changes for another 15 days.
Ambrose estimated the rule could be approved by the board at its June meeting. Then it would go to the Office of Administrative Law, where rules are typically codified into California code in a couple of months.
This story was originally published April 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.