CITY OF HOUSTON - Mayor's Policy

M.P. No: 104.00

Subject: Executive Order Regarding Gifts

Effective Date: August 22, 1983

  1. POLICY STATEMENT
    1. It is the policy of the City of Houston to discourage the hiring of relatives of existing employees under circumstances as outlined below.
  2. POLICY BASIS
    1. Policy Statement
  3. POLICY AMPLIFICATION
    1. For the purpose of this policy, a "relative" shall be defined as a brother, sister, parent, child, or stepchild, grandparent, nephew, niece, first cousin, grandchild, and/or their spouses; or a spouse of a brother, sister, parent, child, or step-child, grandparent, nephew, niece, first cousin of that spouse, or any family member of the same household.
    2. Where relatives of existing employees are or may be employed by the City, the following shall apply:
      1. No employee shall supervise, give administrative directions to, or otherwise be supervised by a relative;
      2. Applicants for new employment, transfer, or promotion shall be ineligible for certification to a position where such a family relationship may or may be caused to exist;
      3. No employee and relative(s) thereof shall report to the same immediate supervisor;
      4. WIthin departmental areas concerned with the intake and/or accounting of cash, checks, or other negotiable instruments, the hiring of relativwes shall be strictly prohibited as a security measure;
      5. Where two or more line authority signatures are required in the processing and/or approval of any given City document(s), relatives shall not sign in any consecutive order;
      6. Unless in response to emergency situations involving matters of the police and fire departments, it shall be considered a conflict of interest when an employee's job duties place the employee in a position of having to conduct official City business of any kind with a relative, be that relative a private citizen or another City worker. In any case it shall be the responsibility of the affected employee to advise his/her immediate supervisor of the conflict of interest and request appropriate reassignment. Examples might be a building inspector inspecting an uncle's building or a health inspector inspecting a brother's restaurant.
      7. It shall be in keeping with the limits of this policy for a department/division director to place whatever other restrictions on the hirigin or placement of relatives as may be deemed necessary to effect the most efficient and security sound functional operation of the departent, up to and including total prohibition.
      8. "Relative" relationships impacted with the effectuation of this policy should be brought to the attention of the Director of Personnel for review and recommended course of action.
  4. POLICY COMPLIANCE
    1. All employees through the department/division director shall comply from policy date forward.
  5. POLICY EXCEPTION
    1. Policy exceptions and/or violations should be brought to the attention of the Director of Personnel for review and recommended course of action. This policy shall not apply to areas of police and fire where policy adherence would be unreasonable.
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