‘It went pear-shaped and I ended it’

CEO Jenna thought she was having a consensual relationship. But she soon found herself dealing with a harassment complaint.

IT ALL started as a cliche; a champagne-fuelled kiss at an office party. The company CEO, 42-year-old Jenna* hooked up with 41-year-old employee Max* and a casual fling between two divorcees soon became serious.

“We were spending most of the week together and things were going great but we were also at the stage where we were wondering when to tell the rest of the staff, if they didn’t already know, and whether one of us should resign before things got too awkward at work,” Jenna said.

“But two months into the relationship, I discovered I wasn’t the only woman in Max’s life and I decided to end things. And that’s when things went pear-shaped.”

According to Jenna, Max wasn’t happy about the breakup and tried to patch things up. But Jenna said there were “trust issues” and a breakup was the best way forward.

“The next thing I knew, he had been to HR to lodge a complaint about me, that I was sexually harassing him. Of course, he didn’t disclose to HR that we’d been in a consensual relationship that had just ended,” Jenna said.

“I managed to clear that up with HR before the matter could be taken further and Max ended up resigning. But it was an awful thing to deal with. Now my advice to anybody is to avoid having a relationship with a work colleague unless one of you is prepared to leave the organisation.”

People management specialist Karen Gately told news.com.au most organisations have policies around personal relationships when it involves people in senior positions.

“If you have a direct report relationship with a staff member and you get involved romantically, then there’s no question you’re opening yourself up to the risk of accusations of sexual harassment if things go sour,” Ms Gately said.

Jenna thought her office affair was a bit of fun, but things soon turned sour.

“Most organisations will say that a senior person having a relationship with an employee is not appropriate. One reason is that others might find that the senior person is prejudiced or biased when it comes to making decisions that involve the person they’re having the relationship with.”

Gately said the rules should be pretty simple to understand.

“If you fall in love at work, then you have to face the brutal reality that one or both of you needs to change your role. And it’s usually the person in the more junior position who makes that sacrifice.”

Workplace law specialist Denise O’Reilly agrees. While she says the law does not generally prohibit consensual relationships between co-workers, if you’re a manager and you’re having a relationship with somebody that you supervise at work, you should disclose the relationship to your employer, as it could expose them to potential law suits.

A relationship between a boss and his/her staff can be seen as “conflict of interest”. If the couple breaks up and one of them tries to reignite the relationship with unwelcome advances, there’s the risk that a complaint will be made of sexual harassment.

“The affected employee may then be able to bring a claim against both their former partner (the ‘harasser’) as well as against their employer,” Ms O’Reilly said.

“Also, if after a complaint is made, action is taken by the employer against the party that was harassed — such as a warning or dismissal for a different issue (such as poor performance) — the employee can bring a ‘general protections’ claim against the employer. For example, alleging that they have been warned or dismissed because they complained about sexual harassment.”

Ms O’Reilly recently came across a case where an employee who found out he was in hot water for breaching the employer’s policies, brought a “pre-emptive” sexual harassment claim against his manager that he had recently ended a relationship with.

“This made it difficult for the employer to take action against him and they had to deal with the sexual harassment claim before they could deal with his bad behaviour,” Ms O’Reilly said.

Ms O’Reilly advises employers to protect themselves by having a policy in place for sexual harassment claims that includes a “complaints procedure”.

“Employers must investigate all complaints of sexual harassment — even when an employee reports an issue but says they don’t want to make a formal complaint.”

HIGH PROFILE SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASES

• In 2012, former Commonwealth Bank business analyst Vivienne Dye sued the bank for sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination, claiming that two senior employees sexually harassed her. But she lost the case, with the court finding Ms Dye had fabricated the allegations out of a “venomous desire for revenge” after making advances to a senior bank employee that were rebuffed. The bank spent around $6 million successfully defending the claim.

• In 2008, Telstra won the right to sack a female employee over an after-hours sex romp, in a case that reignited debate about the blurred line between work and personal lives.

Telstra had dismissed the female employee, claiming she sexually harassed three female colleagues by having sex just metres from where they were sleeping in a hotel. She was also accused of sexually harassing another female employee by being naked in the hotel bath with two Telstra male workers. The female employee took Telstra to court for unfair dismissal but the court upheld that Telstra was justified in sacking her because of her “dishonesty” during the subsequent investigation into her conduct.

* Names have been changed.