Happy Valentine’s Day.
Last February, the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) released a survey that found over a third of American workers have been, or currently are, involved in a workplace romance. Even during the pandemic, a quarter of U.S. workers either began a new workplace romance or continued one sparked before the pandemic.
But office romances can be complicated. Jeff Zucker recently resigned as head of CNN after the network learned he had failed to timely disclose his intimate relationship with Allison Gollust, the network’s executive vice president.
What may a private at-will California employer do when faced with workplace romance?
Legal backdrop
California’s constitutional right to privacy protects employees of both private and government employers. California law further provides a procedural mechanism through which an employee may obtain lost wages and reinstatement for engaging in “lawful conduct occurring during nonworking hours away from the employer’s premises.”
California law nonetheless gives employers a relatively free hand when romantically linked co-workers are supervisor and subordinate.
It is not unlawful marital status discrimination for an employer, for morale and other reasons, to refuse to allow an employee to supervise their spouse or to refuse to place both spouses in the same department “if the work involves potential conflicts of interest or other hazards greater for married couples than for other persons.”
An employer has...
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