The report from the Justice IG noted that recruitment among family and friends is necessarily improper. Image: Gil C/Shutterstock.com
In caution that could apply at other agencies, as well, the Justice Department inspector general’s office has warned that ATF employees risk running afoul of ethics rules when they recruit family and friends to work for the agency.
A “management alert”—typically the result of findings that turned up in an ongoing investigation that an IG deems worthy of immediate action—said that it is “common for ATF employees to recruit from among friends and family for special agent positions.” Those positions are filled under the excepted service “Schedule B” authority, in which an agency can perform targeted recruitment to ensure that it has a pool of qualified applicants for its specific mission needs.
However, the report noted that agencies using that authority still must ensure that their hiring practices comply with the merit principles and that employees not commit prohibited personnel practices such as granting any preference or advantage or advocating for the hiring of a relative.
The report said that recruitment among family and friends “is not in and of itself improper” and noted that someone referred for a position “must still pass a number of hurdles to be hired at ATF, including submitting a formal application and successfully completing a Physical Task Test, panel interview, written test, polygraph examination, and background investigation.”
“Nevertheless, even if the ultimate hiring decision is free of nepotism, recruitment of friends and family can, in some circumstances, potentially give rise to issues under the federal merit-based hiring laws or the Standards of Ethical Conduct,” it said.
For example, “an ATF official’s statement endorsing or recommending the candidacy of a family member he or she is recruiting could potentially constitute improper advocacy of the relative’s appointment, even if the official is not the ultimate decision maker or otherwise participates in the relative’s hiring.
“Similarly, recruiting and recommending friends or family members for employment could, in some circumstances, conceivably create an appearance that the employee is using his or her public office for his or her friend’s or relative’s private gain or giving that friend or relative preferential treatment, in possible violation of the Standards of Ethical Conduct,” it said.
However, it said the ATF does not have a written policy governing the recruitment of friends and family; does not provide employees engaged in recruiting activities with any specific process to follow when recruiting a friend or family member; and does not provide training or guidance to employees regarding potential ethical, appearance, or merit-based hiring issues that can arise during the recruitment stage.
The IG said that it is “concerned that, in the absence of such a policy, process, or guidance, ATF employees may not understand how the federal merit principles and ethics standards apply at the recruitment stage and could unwittingly run afoul of those principles and standards in performing their Schedule B recruitment duties.”
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