Diane Leite, U.C. Berkeley Staffer, Demoted For Giving Raises To Lover

The University of California at Berkeley has demoted senior administrator Diane Leite after a disciplinary investigation revealed she authorized raises for an employee with whom she was having a sexual relationship.

Leite, 47, a former assistant vice chancellor, was reported to the university by a supervising manager who complained that she had been giving undeserved raises to his subordinate, 30-year-old purchasing manager Jonathan Caniezo, according to Inside Higher Ed.

In their investigation, the university discovered that Leite had authorized five raises for Caniezo between 2007 and 2010, upping his annual salary from $70,000 to $110,000, despite objections from his supervisor that the raises were unearned, the Associated Press reports.

According to a Feb. 17 statement from Vice Chancellor Graham Fleming, Leite was to be stripped of her title starting March 1 and would have her annual salary lowered from $188,531 to $175,000.

Leite's new title as listed on Berkeley's staff contacts page is "Director of Research Development."

As for Caniezo, a Jan. 6 e-mail from the school's Associate Vice Chancellor Robert Price said that he had been "temporarily reassigned to other duties," according to the Bay Area News Group.

Leite and Caniezo, who began seeing each other in 2009 when they were partners in a nonprofit baseball team, ended their relationship last year, the paper reports.