The city of Berkeley auditor’s office is recommending changes to city government policy regarding workplace relationships after receiving a whistleblower report concerning a romantic relationship and perceived favoritism between a manager and employee in the same work unit.
Currently, city policy does not address romantic, dating or cohabitating workplace relationships. City Auditor Jenny Wong’s office conducted a policy-focused evaluation looking into how conflicts of interest and unfair practices in employment decisions may result from the lack of a workplace relationship policy.
To address the policy gaps, the auditor’s office recommends introducing cronyism and nepotism provisions to the Berkeley Municipal Code, broadening the definition of family relationships and adding more restrictions for romantic and cohabitating relationships which cause conflicts of interest. The office also proposes adopting a documented conflict management process.
“These gaps limit the City’s ability to identify and manage conflicts of interest when workplace relationships intersect with employment decisions, which can increase the risk of actual or perceived favoritism,” Wong said in a press release.
The current policy that aims to mitigate nepotism — Administrative Regulation 2.12, or the Employment of Near Relatives regulation — only regulates supervisory roles among certain “near relatives.”
The regulation doesn’t require employees to disclose romantic or cohabitating associations, unlike Oakland and San Francisco’s policies, which maintain broader definitions of family, including extended family, and have explicit rules governing romantic relationships in the workplace.
According to the report, the Whistleblower Program has received other reports regarding similar concerns about personal relationships that are not covered by current city policy content.
Whistleblower Program Manager Erin Mullin said the program aims to provide clearer expectations and a consistent process for identifying and managing conflicts “when personal relationships intersect with employment decisions.”
“Actual or perceived favoritism can undermine employee confidence that hiring, promotions, supervision, and other employment decisions are fair and objective,” Mullin wrote in an email. “It can also weaken trust in management and make it harder for the City to demonstrate that employment decisions are based on legitimate business considerations rather than personal relationships. Strong conflict-of-interest controls help protect the integrity of City operations and public confidence in City government.”
According to the report, expanding and updating these policies would improve transparency and match Berkeley with peer jurisdictions such as Oakland and San Francisco.
“The report and Management’s Response are publicly available and the report will go to City Council on September 15,” Mullin said in an email. “Management has already agreed with the report’s recommendations and plans to evaluate updates to the City’s Employment of Near Relatives policy and provide training following the policy-development and labor-relations process.”