Nepotism: Firefighter Shouldn’t Lose His Job Because His Dad Is a Department Officer

A fire department fired a recently recruited firefighter upon learning that his father was its Chief Operations Officer. The decision was made not because the rookie had lied or covered up his relationship to the COO, but out of concern over conflict of interest and ethical issues. We wouldn’t have hired the guy if we had known he was the COO’s son, the department argued. But the Québec arbitrator wasn’t impressed. The hiring officer must have known of the family ties between the 2; at a minimum, the fact that they had the same last name should have put the officer on notice and caused him to do some due diligence before making the hire [Union of Quebec Firefighters – Local Section Prévost v Prévost (Ville), 2022 CanLII 253 (QC SAT), January 7, 2022].