Humble City Council members approved updates to two policies regarding workplace relationships and nepotism during the council’s March 26 meeting.
The details
City Manager Jason Stuebe said an update to the city’s workplace relationship policy will prohibit employees who work in the same department from engaging in romantic relationships.
Additionally, Stuebe said the update to the city’s nepotism policy will prohibit related employees from being promoted to positions in which one of the employees would serve in a supervisory capacity over the other employee.
A closer look
Stuebe noted the updates to both policies are intended to promote professionalism; maintain a respectful and productive work environment; and reduce the potential for conflicts of interest, favoritism, harassment or the appearance of impropriety.
Stuebe said the workplace relationship policy was being updated because the previous policy only applied to employees who were married.
“That left kind of a loophole for us and has caused some problems in the past,” Steube said.
Steube noted the update to the city’s nepotism policy will account for relatives who are already employed by the city.
“A small town being what a small town is, we have some situations where we have relatives working in the same department,” Stuebe said. “Fortunately, they’re not within the same divisions of those departments or working the same shifts.”
Stuebe said relatives who are already working for the city will not be eligible to be promoted to a position in which they would serve as a supervisor to their relative.
Moving forward, Stuebe said prospective employees will no longer be hired to serve in departments in which their relatives are already employed.
