Bad policies make for bad outcomes.
Tuesday, the Columbus City Council faced a situation where all the choices were bad ones.
Ultimately, the council went with the “least bad” decision, transferring firefighter Jonathan Goodman to the city’s police department rather than terminate him altogether.
This decision was forced on the council because of the nepotism policy it adopted in 2008.
That policy, like most workplace policies, prohibits situations where someone is allowed to be the direct supervisor of a relative or is in a dating relationship with that person. This generally covers spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, children and other extended family members.
If the city’s policy stopped there Goodman, 25, would remain a firefighter today.
It does not.
Goodman married the niece of Herbert Tedford, who has the same rank as Goodman, but works at a separate firehouse on a different shift.
Under the city’s nepotism policy, that also qualifies as a violation of policy according to city officials.
In addition to the part of the policy that deals with direct supervision, it also states: “In cases where a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest arises because of the relationship between employees, even if there is no authority or line of reporting involved, the employees may be separated by reassignment or terminated from employment to avoid personal conflicts to be carried over in the day-to-day working relationships and to avoid the appearance of impropriety, favoritism or a negative effect on morale.”
While it is unlikely that there would ever be such a conflict in Goodman’s case, the city had no choice but act on the policy.
Failure to act would have rendered the policy meaningless and would have the potential to put the city in serious legal jeopardy. Policies that can result in termination or other major consequences cannot be implemented piece-meal.
Just as an employee’s private life should not interfere with his workplace duties — which is the reason for nepotism policies in the first place — a worker’s private life should not be unnecessarily burdened by his workplace requirement.
There has been some talk among council members that the city’s nepotism policy be reviewed and amended. This seems the best course of action.
A nepotism policy is needed; however, we encourage the council to take this opportunity to review the scope of this policy and its merits.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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