Arizona Revised Statutes

Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 38-481 (2026)

Employment of relatives; violation; classification; definition

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section AZ-LEGazleg.gov (official) JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

A. It is unlawful, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, for an executive, legislative, ministerial or judicial officer to appoint or vote for appointment of any person related to him by affinity or consanguinity within the third degree to any clerkship, office, position, employment or duty in any department of the state, district, county, city or municipal government of which such executive, legislative, ministerial or judicial officer is a member, when the salary, wages or compensation of such appointee is to be paid from public funds or fees of such office, or to appoint, vote for or agree to appoint, or to work for, suggest, arrange or be a party to the appointment of any person in consideration of the appointment of a person related to him within the degree provided by this section.

B. Any executive, legislative, ministerial or judicial officer who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor.

C. The designation executive, legislative, ministerial or judicial officer includes all officials of the state, or of any county or incorporated city within the state, holding office either by election or appointment, and the heads of the departments of state, county or incorporated cities, officers and boards or managers of the universities.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1968–2015 · leading case: City of Scottsdale v. Deem, 556 P.2d 328 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1976).
City of Scottsdale v. Deem, 556 P.2d 328 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1976). · cites it 2× “If any provision or condition of this article or §§ 34-301, 34-302 or § 38-481 conflicts with any provision of federal law or any rule or regulation made under federal law pertaining to federal aid contracts, such provision or condition shall not apply on federal aid contracts…”
Allen v. Sanders, 346 P.3d 30 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 4× “77-135 (interpreting Arizona’s anti-nepotism statute, A.R.S. § 38-481; “most common definition of affinity is that relationship which exists, as a result of marriage, between each spouse and the blood relatives of the other spouse”); 4 Norris v.”
Powell v. Indus. Comm'n, 441 P.2d 553 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1968). “The contracts of all certificated employees shall be in writing and all employees shall be employed subject to the provisions of § 38-481.” (Emphasis supplied.) Section 15-251 is the definition section in the area of teacher tenure and subsection B reads as follows: “B.”
— Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 38-481(A) — 1 case
Allen v. Sanders, 346 P.3d 30 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2015). “77-135 (interpreting Arizona’s anti-nepotism statute, A.R.S. § 38-481; “most common definition of affinity is that relationship which exists, as a result of marriage, between each spouse and the blood relatives of the other spouse”); 4 Norris v.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.