Title 5 › PART III — EMPLOYEES › Subpart B — Employment and Retention › CHAPTER 31 — AUTHORITY FOR EMPLOYMENT › SUBCHAPTER I — EMPLOYMENT AUTHORITIES › § 3110
Stops public officials from hiring, promoting, or pushing for the hiring or promotion of their relatives in civilian jobs where they work or have control. Agency: a part of the federal government, including executive, legislative, judicial offices, and the District of Columbia government. Public official: someone with legal authority to hire, promote, or recommend hires. Relative: family members like parents, children, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, step- and half-relatives, and spouses. If a relative is put into a job in violation of this rule, they do not get paid and the government cannot pay them. The Office of Personnel Management can write rules to allow short-term hires in emergencies like natural disasters. The rule does not block hiring a "preference eligible" when skipping them on a certificate of eligibles under section 3317(a) would cause a non‑preference eligible to be picked.
Full Legal Text
Government Organization and Employees, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
5 U.S.C. § 3110
Title 5, Government Organization and Employees
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102