You've Got to Be Kidding!: How to Keep Your Job Without Losing Your Integrity

Cupid Cops and Love Contracts

In the “believe it or not” category, I have heard of some companies that have appointed “Cupid cops” to monitor office romances and nip them in the bud before they bloom into a potentially explosive lawsuit. The latter is accomplished by changing any “reporting-to” relationships of a couple and/or encouraging them to make this change themselves. I have also heard of organizations that have asked employees to reveal their dating relationships with fellow employees as soon as they begin (a policy that smacks of invasion of personal privacy, even though there are few laws that promise workplace privacy in the private sector); and companies that have gone so far as to require employees to sign documents (known as a “dating waiver” or “love contract”) acknowledging that their relationship with a coworker is consensual and that either party can break things off at any time without fear of reprisal. My advice? Tread carefully before developing or signing any such waiver or contract. These contracts protect the company, not you, and are of questionable enforceability—especially since a person might take the position that entering into the contract was never truly consensual. You should sign such a document only after fully considering the circumstances and other policies maintained by the company. For example, does the company have a policy expressly stating that it will protect an employee’s privacy rights?

The above-listed skittish efforts—dating waivers, ...