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Relationships within the workplace are not, per se, considered harassment; but it is plausible for those of a romantic nature to lead to situations that give rise to claims of harassment. Do note that harassment is a form of employment discrimination that involves behavior that is hostile, inappropriate or unwanted within the workplace. The following are the most common ways in which a relationship within the workplace can lead to liability issues:<\/p>\n

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• Conflict of Interest Claims \u2013 Relationships within the workplace can often lead to favoritism. Moreover, benefits, perks, opportunities and work being allocated unfairly or even inappropriately.<\/li>\n
• Claims of a hostile work environment \u2013 Employees outside of the relationship could plausibly file a claim for hostile work environment should the relationship become the result of physical sexual or verbal behavior within the workplace.<\/li>\n
• Claims of sexual harassment \u2013 Workplace relationships, especially those between a subordinate and a supervisor can often expose employers to sexual harassment claims. Additionally, targeting and\/or coercion can be the result of a romantic workplace relationship that ends under the umbrella of bad terms. Former partners can begin to target their prior mates for humiliation or harassment in the workplace out of pure spite.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  How Can Liability Be Avoided Regarding Workplace Relationships?<\/strong><\/p>\n

  Liability associated with workplace relationships can be avoided via the implementation of companywide dating policies that are explicit in nature. Implemented policies should be able to prevent the vast majority of problems associated with such relationships as long as they are uniformly enforced and clear. The policies that are most often utilized are as follows:<\/p>\n

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  • Management and Documentation \u2013 A policy of management and documentation requires that employees disclose any and all workplace relationships to their superiors or the human resource department. Typically, such employees are required to sign documentation that states that the relationship is completely consensual and there is a complete understanding of the company\u2019s discrimination policies. The employer will then have to conduct a degree of monitoring in regards the ensuring that there is no abuse of power or any amount of favoritism.<\/li>\n
  • Partial Ban on Workplace Relationships \u2013 A partial ban will only prohibit relationships between subordinates and supervisors. This is a ban that is not inclusive of executive members of a company and their desire to date anyone within the company.<\/li>\n
  • A Complete Ban on Workplace Relationship \u2013 This type of ban would prohibit dating between any employee regardless of stature or tenure within a company. This type of ban does pose enforcement issues in addition to problems with how to properly discipline violators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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    Photo Credit: Shutterstock\/Rido<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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