Contact: Richard G. Vernon; Lerch, Early & Brewer (Maryland, USA)
Lerch Early's Legal Update
A popular song from the 1930s, "I'll Take Romance," speaks of love and giving one's heart away, but in contemporary language, "OMG!" What's an employer to do about love in the office?
Forbes.com reports that according to a 2013 survey by the job search website CareerBuilder.com:
- Four out of 10 workers say they have dated a colleague at some point in their careers.
- Three in 10 say they married the person they dated at work.
- More and more employees are going public with their office relationships –as many as 65%, according to the survey.
Fortunately for employees, the ubiquitous Internet is filled with articles warning that office romances can be the proverbially "fraught with peril." Many of these articles go on to offer employees advice on how to conduct their love affairs in the workplace. Precious few of these articles, if any, however, provide insight for employers on how to deal with or what to do about office relationships. Just as for employees, office romances can create legal and morale problems for employers, particularly where a supervisor and a subordinate employee are dating. If the supervisor decides to end the relationship, the jilted subordinate may decide to claim that the relationship was unwelcome all along and that he/she had been sexually harassed by the supervisor. Conversely, the employee may break up with the supervisor, and the supervisor may continue to pursue his/her former love, ultimately harassing him/her with various antics. In addition to these legal concerns, morale may plummet among those who are aware of the relationship, as other employees may believe that any upcoming promotion will be given to the favored subordinate. In an effort to avoid these and related situations that may wreak havoc in the workplace, employers may want to consider adopting the following policy, which attempts to regulate relationships between supervisors/managers and subordinate employees:
