Drugs row raises questions over whether staff can be sacked for a relative's crime

A drugs row at one of the highest levels of parliament raises a serious HR issue regarding whether an employee can be sacked, or demoted, for a family member’s crimes.

Currently, Labour MP and Shadow International Development Secretary Kate Osamor [pictured], one of the most senior members of Corbyn’s opposition party, could face a standards investigation, at her place of work, after refusing to sack her son when he was caught with £2,500 worth of drugs.

Osamor employs her son in her office. Her failure to fire him, despite the ex-Councillor and current staffer narrowly avoiding jail last month, lead another MP to write to the commissioner asking for Osamor to be investigated. The MP, Anee-Marie Trevelyan, wrote:

"You do not need me to outline how serious drug offences are, and in this place [Parliament] we ought to treat them as such."