ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY
Policy Statement
This policy serves to uphold the university's standards of professional and ethical conduct regarding employee personal relationships. The intent of this policy is to provide assurance that all employees work in an environment where they can be objectively supervised and evaluated.
This policy describes restrictions with respect to employee personal relationships and provides for disciplinary action for violations of this policy.
Purpose and Scope
The purpose of this policy is to help ensure that personal relationships between employees do not interfere with or disrupt the University’s operations or jeopardize the working relationships of university employees.
Applicability of this Policy
This policy applies to all employment decisions, such as hiring, promotion and transfer decisions, for all job classifications, including student employment. Employees who become involved in a personal relationship that violates this policy shall immediately notify their supervisor or the Office of Human Resources and Institutional Equity. The University reserves the right to determine if a personal relationship should prohibit employment, promotion, or transfer in a particular situation.
Definitions
Nepotism: favoritism shown to current or prospective employees based on a personal relationship rather than qualifications, abilities, or merit.
Personal relationship: a relationship between persons by blood, marriage, adoption, and domestic partnership. It also includes co-habitants and individuals involved in a consensual sexual or romantic relationship.
Policy and Procedures
To help ensure that University employees and prospective employees are evaluated based on individual merit, professional qualifications and performance, the following basic restrictions shall be observed when current employees have a personal relationship, or a current employee has a personal relationship with a prospective employee:
- A supervisor/subordinate relationship. An employee shall not supervise, evaluate, influence the evaluation of, or make decisions regarding the terms and conditions of employment of an employee with whom they have a personal relationship.
- An actual conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest. An employee shall not serve in any capacity which creates an actual conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest with the University because of a personal relationship between the employee and another employee.
Consequence of Violating the Policy
Violation of this policy may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination and/or criminal prosecution.
