With employees returning to the physical office, employers are likely going to have to deal with a number of headaches they haven’t had to address during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of these headaches relates to office romance. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, a January 2022 survey conducted by the Society for Human Resources Management shows that one-third of workers said they were, or have been, involved in a relationship with a coworker. That number is up from about one-quarter in 2020.
Although romantic relationships among coworkers are now fairly common, they can cause problems. Office romance can lead to claims of sexual harassment — both quid pro quo harassment and hostile work environment harassment. Claims for quid pro quo harassment often arise after a consensual relationship ends and one of the individuals continues to demand sex. Likewise, if one party is upset with the relationship ending, that person may engage in inappropriate conduct that creates a hostile workplace.
Employees outside the relationship may also be affected. We often see other employees make claims of favoritism when a supervisor is in a relationship with a subordinate employee.
Although sexual harassment and similar equal employment opportunity (EEO) policies are common in the workplace, many employers have not implemented specific policies that cover romance in the workplace. The policy should be...
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