button Vol. 5
No. 3
Winter 1999

line INSIDE line

Workplace Romance -
How About a "Love Contract"?
line 'Right to Organize'
- THE Hot Labor Issue To Test Candidates in the Year 2000, Says Sweeney
line Disgruntled Workers Air Corporate 'Dirty Laundry'
on Internet World Wide Web Sites
line Supreme Court Rulings and ADA, 1999 Review
line Answers about Employee Break Periods
line BCG Has a New Address! line Briefs
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button Workplace Romance
How About a "Love Contract"?

Here are some relevant statistics from an Internet survey of 966 respondents by VaultReports.com. In this survey 59 percent said they had had a workplace romance at some point in their careers. Another 17 percent said they had never dated a co-worker, but would. Twenty-four percent said they never had an office fling and had no interest in doing so.

While workplace romantic involvement can create awkward situations and claims of favoritism, breakups can be even harder - on the employer. Potential problems include sexual harassment claims and revenge-motivated complaints.

A new contract some companies are using now to ward off sexual harassment charges and other problems stemming from office romances is called a "consensual relationship agreement".

These "love contracts" typically spell out that the relationship is mutually agreeable, consensual, and unrelated to the company; that couples are aware of the policy against sexual harassment and know how to use it; and that they agree to settle any relationship dispute through binding arbitration, not a lawsuit.

The co-creators of the "love contract" are Garry Mathiason and Jeff Tanenbaum, employment attorneys at Littler Mendelson in San Francisco. The contracts must be voluntary and should be used "sparingly and only in appropriate cases" to avoid the appearance that such relationships are company-sanctioned.

Appropriate and mandatory training of managers on the dangers and risks of romantic involvement with subordinates works even better than these "contracts"... but in certain cases they may help solve some "touchy" situations arising in the workplace.

'Right to Organize' Will Be THE Hot Labor Issue Next Page

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