RALEIGH – Two assistant directors with the state Division of Emergency Management are out of their jobs after their children were hired as temporary workers for state jobs others didn’t know were available.

The high-ranking staffers and a third agency employee were dismissed as an internal agency continues. WRAL-TV had earlier reported the nepotism, prompting the internal investigation.

WRAL reported that records showed that the sons and daughters of two high-ranking and four lower-level employees got unadvertised, high-paying disaster relief jobs in 2011.

State Public Safety Director Douglas Hoell is changing the agency’s hiring practices, saying a private company will now handle the division’s temporary needs. Hoell says managers can’t hire a relative to a position over which they can influence promotion or salary.