Third Party Sexual Harrassment Claims

[chanel]

Now there's a new legal menace: scorned workers who claim that an office affair fostered an invidious work environment, even if they weren't actually involved in the romance themselves. So-called third party or hostile work environment sexual harassment claims are difficult to prove but easy to allege, particularly by employees fearing for their jobs in a sluggish economy.

Third party discrimination claims have helped further the rise in retaliation and develop the legal theory of "Sex Plus." Regarding the latter, courts have ruled that when a romance enters the office, an employee can prove discrimination based on gender "plus" another particular characteristic. If a manager's failed office romance forces him or her to focus more heavily on the work, his increasing demands on, for example, a pregnant underling could give her the grounds for a lawsuit. Under Sex Plus, the pregnant woman could allege that the office romance had provided an underlying basis for a separate act of discrimination. "When the courts find in favor of the client, then interpretation of the law gets expanded," says Dr. John A. Pearce II, an endowed chairman at Villanova School of Business. "We're seeing the emergence of more and more third party cases. Attorneys go to court and say, 'Following the logic of these laws, we think that you ought to find in favor of our client in this particular new twist.' And that's exactly what's happened."

BusinessWeek: Why office romance is on the wane - Business - Bloomberg Businessweek - msnbc.com

I believe office romances are unwise. But should they be illegal? Sheez.

 

[Ringel05]

Lawyers run amok. The courts should be tossing this shit out in the street where it belongs and turning the lawyers over to the disciple committees for fostering frivolous suits.

 

[ConHog]

Office romances are stupid, but natural. You can't put people together day in and day out and expect them not to get involved occasionally; and if everyone involved would be an adult and use their heads there is no reason why they need end in a lawsuit.

That being said, this lawsuit is stupid.