Once again, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been criticized for illegal hiring practices involving relatives of current employees.

 

The current nepotism problem was uncovered by the department’s inspector general (IG) who reported seven examples within the Justice Management Division.

 

According to the IG’s report, two different pairs of employees schemed to hire the other’s children. Another DOJ employee tried to get his cousin and nephew hired.

 

The latest report follows similar ones in 2004 and 2008, in which DOJ workers were found manipulating the hiring process to favor family members.

 

Frank Wolf (R-Virginia), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department’s budget, said in a statement, “I expect for the employees involved in this nepotism ring to be punished under full extent of the law. I also expect the department to move quickly to enact the necessary reforms to prevent this from happening again.”

 

Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) accused the Justice Department of running “wild.”

 

“It is troubling to me how employees within the Department colluded and schemed to hire one another’s relatives in order to avoid rules against nepotism,” Grassley told The Hill.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Nepotism Prevalent at Justice Department, Says IG Report (by Jordy Yager, The Hill)

Justice HR Officials Implicated in Nepotism Ring (by Amanda Palleschi, Government Executive)

Nepotism Is Detected, Yet Again, in a Branch of the DOJ (by David Stout, Main Justice)