There tend to be themes to my client calls, and there have been a couple in the last few weeks that involve people making bad choices.  I will break them down into a few subcategories.

Employees Getting Cozy – The first issue involves fraternization amongst employees.  For some reason, in the last few weeks, we have had to deal with conflict caused by managers becoming involved with subordinate employees, either lower-level managers or staff.

Love, or sometimes just lust, often blooms in the workplace. That is a tale as old as time. There have been studies through the ages about the percentages of employees who become romantically involved, and sometimes people meet their life partners this way.  After all, work is the place we spend most of our waking hours.

But familiarization and romance in the workplace can also create problems. When the fraternization occurs between the ranks, it becomes even more complicated.    Relationship drama gets dragged into the workplace, causing claims of favoritism, bias, or harassment from other employees. Then, of course, there is the possibility that the relationship itself sours and one of the two people involved now claims harassment.

To start, you can and should have non-fraternization and conflict of interest policies in your employee handbooks.  We draft these clauses as options for our clients.  Most of our policies provide you, the employer, with flexibility as to dealing with the circumstances in real time.  And that’s where the rubber meets the road.

The key to a successful non-fraternization policy is in its communication and enforcement.  Remind managers of their obligation as managers, early and often.  This obligation is best messaged through your regular sexual harassment training.  But ongoing leadership and management training can also reinforce the importance of staying professional in the workplace.

A solid non-fraternization policy should also include transparency.  Managers should be encouraged to self-report any relationships.   That way, if romance does take hold, you are advised and can take action to diffuse or avoid any unintended consequences.

If all else fails and employees create conflict despite your policy, take swift action. Unfortunately, employers often want to salvage the higher-level employee in the relationship, because that may be the more difficult employee to replace or transfer.  However, remember that it is the manager with more authority who also has the most “power.”  With that rise in power comes added responsibility. They are the ones who should truly be held accountable.  We also cannot always “punish” the subordinate employee, who (a) is more often a woman, and (b) may claim that the relationship was pressured.

Care should be taken in dealing with these situations, and don’t forget to involve your favorite employment law attorney when and if they arise.

Violence at Work – The second topic Is more tragic.  Last week I had two calls involving violent, physical assaults in the workplace.  In both cases, the attackers were third parties (patrons or members of the public).   

You also may remember that a few months ago, a bar manager in Santa Monica was killed while trying to break up a brawl between customers.  He had followed the patrons out to the street and was thrown to the sidewalk while trying to intervene.

As most of you know, California passed a new law this year requiring all employers to invoke a workplace violence prevention plan effective July 1, 2024. The law also requires training on this workplace violence prevention plan.

A part of any plan and proper training should include training all employees on how to avoid and de-escalate aggressive situations. Sometimes, even proper training will not help us avoid tragic circumstances like the ones above.  But sometimes they can.  In a few of these circumstances, employees were sadly trying to help.  But you cannot be a hero with an irrational, out of control aggressor. Employees need to be taught to disengage from these circumstances and make a call to get help – usually from the authorities.

I have written before about the rising level of angst and anger in our society.  We all have our thoughts on the root causes of this trend, and I won’t get into my theories here.  For now, I will simply say that while we may not be able to control others, we can control our own reaction to them.  That is the rule we must teach our employees to best keep them safe.