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Glendale commissioners review report on employees with relatives at the city, debate policy language and training
Summary
HR told the commission that 171 employees self-reported family members working for the city, representing about 80 distinct relationships; commissioners debated perception versus policy, asked HR to refine reporting footnotes and begin meet-and-confer on clarifying the administrative policy definition.
Human Resources told the Glendale Civil Service Commission on April 8 that 171 employees reported having one or more family members employed by the city, which HR said represents roughly 80 distinct family relationships.
Miss Adams presented the report (Exhibit A), which lists employee job classifications and the reported family-member departments and classifications. HR said the dataset relies on voluntary self-reporting and that comparable cities generally do not track this information. HR staff also noted they notify multiple internal parties when a family relationship is reported and will confirm whether reported pairs involve supervisor-subordinate relationships.
Commissioners raised concerns about departmental concentrations and public perception. One commissioner cited examples in the packet: 12 employees in Library, Arts and Culture who reported family ties and a police-department subset described as "33 out of 39" in the packet. Commissioners discussed whether these numbers reflect duplicate entries, inclusion of cousins (which HR said is not included in the formal policy definition), or seasonal hourly hires inflating counts.
"If you have a lieutenant who oversees patrol who is the sibling of a patrol officer, you would have to shift assignments to avoid direct supervision," HR staff said, describing steps taken when a supervisory relationship is present. Naira Copian, HR compliance and operations manager, said the director, immediate supervisor, HR analyst and compliance manager are copied on notifications and that HR keeps the information on file.
Commissioners debated options short of investigation: several advocated targeted supervisory training and clearer footnotes in the report to explain seasonal hires and cousins; one commissioner proposed agendizing a revision to the civil service nepotism rule to align definitions with state standards and explicitly address cohabitation/partners. Other commissioners said they trusted HR's certification and review processes and cautioned against time-consuming inquiries without specific allegations.
HR indicated it would begin meet-and-confer and return to the commission with refined language and updates in a couple of months. The commission did not take formal enforcement action at the meeting but discussed follow-up steps including improved report footnotes, training for supervisors and potential rulemaking to clarify the definition of "relative."
