The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC-H) is subject to state laws a concerning the employment of relatives (i.e., nepotism). The UTHSC-H requiresb that individuals may not be employed in a position that would result in their being supervised directly or indirectly by a relative.
It is the policy of the UTHSC-H to review the concurrent employment of close relatives with the intent to prevent situations that would tend to compromise the employees, supervisors, or managers of the UTHSC-H. All instances of concurrent employment of close relatives will be included in the annual UTHSC-H budget submitted to UT System. The chief operating officer is authorized to request review and to take action when necessary to prevent relatives (whether by marriage or blood) from entering into a supervisor/supervisee relationship with one another.
For the intent of this policy, a "close relative" of an employee is defined as one of the following: parent, grandparent, child, brother or sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, spouse, or any spouse's relatives related to the spouse in the same degree as those previously mentioned.
If an employee should attain a position within the UTHSC-H that would require him or her to approve, recommend, or act on the appointment, promotion, or salary of a relative, all such actions will subsequently be passed to the next highest administrator or supervisor for approval. Should two UTHSC-H employees marry, they may not continue to hold positions of supervisor/supervisee relative to one another, beyond the end of the then current fiscal year. Every effort will be made to effect a transfer that will be mutually advantageous. Relationship will not be a bar to honorary positions or to nonremunerative positions.
aTexas Government Code, Chapter 573.
bBoard of Regents, UT System, Rules and Regulations, Series 30106, Nepotism.
Updated 4/03; 08/07