Strands #290 “You Say You Want A...
Quizzes & Puzzles0 min ago
Affair at work
I have been having an affair for over a year with my work colleague, we do not work for the same department, only the same division, but he is quite "high up". He is in the senior management but nothing to do with me. We can ocassionally work together, send work e-mails, reports etc etc but he cannot decide about my wages, nothing HR related.
We have been keeping it as a secret and my "affair" thinks he might get sacked if somebody finds out.
Do you think that is possible?
We have been keeping it as a secret and my "affair" thinks he might get sacked if somebody finds out.
Do you think that is possible?
Answers
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Depends. I used to work somewhere where the company policy stated staff were not allowed to enter into relationships and no members of family were allowed to be employed on a permanent basis. Stemmed back to an incident at a Christmas party where 2 members of staff had an altercation and one member was sacked and the rest of her family left and no one knew how to cover their jobs.
What grounds could there be for dismissing him? Perhaps he just doesn't want anyone to know for whatever reason that you 2 are an item.
What grounds could there be for dismissing him? Perhaps he just doesn't want anyone to know for whatever reason that you 2 are an item.
Yes, it is a proper relationship. When we are outside work we act like a normal couple, well when we know nobody from work is around. We only go to restaurants which we know nobody from work will be there. However when we are at work, we act like proffessionals, no emotions, just work things.
We don't want anybody to know but in case this eventually comes out, can either of us get sacked?
We don't want anybody to know but in case this eventually comes out, can either of us get sacked?
do you mean an affair or a relationship??
I suspect if you are having an affair rather than a relationship and you are found out then you will be reprimanded but i doubt that either of you can be sacked unless it is in your contracts that you are unable to have relationships at work. Even then I would think that only one of you could be asked to leave, and it would be better if one of you jumped before being pushed if this is the case.
I suspect if you are having an affair rather than a relationship and you are found out then you will be reprimanded but i doubt that either of you can be sacked unless it is in your contracts that you are unable to have relationships at work. Even then I would think that only one of you could be asked to leave, and it would be better if one of you jumped before being pushed if this is the case.
Folks that think that the key issue is whether it is 'in the contract or not' are really barking up the wrong tree. Employers just can't legislate for the relationship with their employees by putting more stuff into a contract - the contract would be unwieldy and run to thousands of pages.
An issue such as this is more than likely to be handled using the general heading of 'misconduct'. Whether it is a dismissal offence is impossible to judge for sure because it is a judgement call by the employer, that then the employee could always chose to test using the Employment Tribunal process. The misconduct almost certainly would be on the basis of either undermining the credibility / good name of the employer or undermining the ability of the individual to undertake the job. The more senior the management role, the more likely the applicability of the second one.
The factors that I would use in judging the severity of the situation would be:
1) The closeness of the work relationship - a manager / subordinate relationship is more likely to be ajudged to fail point 2 above.
2) the nature of the job in terms of public profile, relationship with customers.
3) Any activity on works premises. What people do in their own time should be down to them (save for 1) and 2) above) but carrying on, on works premises is a no-no.
IMHO the most severe reprimand an organisation is likely to commit to would be a written warning.
An issue such as this is more than likely to be handled using the general heading of 'misconduct'. Whether it is a dismissal offence is impossible to judge for sure because it is a judgement call by the employer, that then the employee could always chose to test using the Employment Tribunal process. The misconduct almost certainly would be on the basis of either undermining the credibility / good name of the employer or undermining the ability of the individual to undertake the job. The more senior the management role, the more likely the applicability of the second one.
The factors that I would use in judging the severity of the situation would be:
1) The closeness of the work relationship - a manager / subordinate relationship is more likely to be ajudged to fail point 2 above.
2) the nature of the job in terms of public profile, relationship with customers.
3) Any activity on works premises. What people do in their own time should be down to them (save for 1) and 2) above) but carrying on, on works premises is a no-no.
IMHO the most severe reprimand an organisation is likely to commit to would be a written warning.
I once worked for a company who were known to look unfavourably towards employees engaging in extra-marital relationships (not that it stopped the employees :-)).
This issue is simply a question of whether or not the employer has grounds for dismissing an employee. So, as afar as I can tell, we are talking about 'misconduct' or 'capability'. Thereafter the picture is far greyer. Are philandering employees less capable than their squeaky-clean married or singleton counterparts? One would not think so. So it would seem that the only grounds are misconduct.
If misconduct is alleged (the very fact of having an affair), it would seem to me (especially if in Scotland){Human Rights Act], that the employees are not obliged to answer ny questions connected to their private life. Any action taken would seem to me to be a breach of convention rights.
This issue is simply a question of whether or not the employer has grounds for dismissing an employee. So, as afar as I can tell, we are talking about 'misconduct' or 'capability'. Thereafter the picture is far greyer. Are philandering employees less capable than their squeaky-clean married or singleton counterparts? One would not think so. So it would seem that the only grounds are misconduct.
If misconduct is alleged (the very fact of having an affair), it would seem to me (especially if in Scotland){Human Rights Act], that the employees are not obliged to answer ny questions connected to their private life. Any action taken would seem to me to be a breach of convention rights.
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