Gwinnett County lets one elected official be the boss of his own girlfriend. An Atlanta city councilman votes on government spending that funds the paychecks of his brothers and sisters.
In Clayton, your brother can be a co-worker, and your dad — the County Commission chairman — can be your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss.
In the last three years alone, five area city and county governments hired at least 770 relatives of current employees. Those hires took place as thousands of metro residents struggled to find work, raising questions about whether family ties trump good government.
Many more family members were already on government payrolls. About 1,700 employees of six governments examined appear to live together, judging by home addresses; most share the same last names. In one DeKalb County division, one of every 10 employees has a co-worker who is a relative, the AJC found.
It’s nearly impossible to determine how many other local government workers have family ties. No one consistently tracks them, and safeguards to protect taxpayers are limited and outdated, the newspaper found.
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