Office romance can lead to sexual harassment and retaliation claims, employment lawyers say
On the eve of Valentine's Day, love is in the air, but HR leaders must be wary if it’s also in the office.
Three quarters of employees say they’ve had a romantic relationship with a colleague, and 59% say they’ve had sex with a colleague, according to a recent survey from LiveCareer.
Of course, given the amount of time people spend at work, it’s not unusual for colleagues to become romantically linked. Sometimes, those relationships may even lead to marriage.
But here’s where HR leaders may start to sweat: 75% say there’s nothing wrong with dating your colleagues and 71% say there’s nothing wrong with dating your manager, according to the survey.
The latter statistic raises a red flag following the #MeToo movement, in which high-profile leaders, particularly in the entertainment industry, were accused of sexual abuse and harassment and subsequently removed from their positions.
Office romance opens the door for potential claims of sexual harassment, which constitutes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature that implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with their work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
“The key part is that it must be unwelcome,” says employment lawyer Ted Hollis, partner at national law...
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