As February marches on, one can’t help but see Valentine’s Day cards and candy and romantic movie trailers. But what happens when love and romance enter the workplace? (Hint: It’s not always a fairy tale ending.)
This article examines what policies or actions Human Resources should consider when it comes to two critical issues that may arise when cupid’s arrow hits employees: workplace relationships and whether a company should pay for a marriage-based green card.
Workplace romance is widespread and so are the problems related to such relationships. In a 2018 Vault survey, 52% of respondents indicated they had at least one office romance. While not all workplace romances end poorly, when they do, the results can be problematic for the employer.
Sometimes, when a relationship ends, the legal claims may begin. Although employers bear a higher risk when workplace romance involves a supervisor and subordinate, courts consistently reject harassment claims involving consensual workplace relationships. For example, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a jury could not reasonably rule in favor of the terminated subordinate employee plaintiff, where the plaintiff and her supervisor had a five-year consensual on-again-off-again sexual relationship. The employee was fired one month after the supervisor ended their relationship, but the court found...
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