Consensual Relationship Agreements

Consensual Relationships Agreeme

Business 520

17 January 2012

During this day and time of longer office hours, the office setting and co-workers have become the place in which we spend more time at and with each other. Being with people in which have common interests, we are bound to develop emotional feelings, good or bad. This may lead to some office romances. Besides raising a few eyebrows, office romances can jeopardize your job security and put employers and co-workers on edge. Employers have been approaching labor and employment law firms for years about work romance issues. Many companies now ask “involved” employees to sign Consensual Relationship Agreements (CRA), more commonly known as “Love Contracts.” (Tyler, 2008)

CRAs are basically an agreement to not pursue litigation against the employer if the relationship goes bad. Once two employees stop dating, one person may believe that the former partner no longer treats them fairly or ignores them when a promotion should be considered. It’s at this point that the less senior employee could claim that a “hostile work environment” has evolved and pursue litigation against the employer. Many employers realize that it’s unwise to try and ban all office romances. However, they are very interested in preventing these relationships from having a negative impact on the workplace. By having both parties sign a CRA, the two parties will be put on active notice of their separate rights and responsibilities, both during the course of the relationship and after its possible demise (Tyler, 2008). I believe this is a good reason for my workplace, Birmingham Veterans Affairs Hospital, to have a CRA. You have such a variety of people and occupations in one place, there is a high expectation that these individuals will make an emotional connection.

Although some employees may be fearful of waiving future legal rights, many people actually feel relieved when asked to sign these contracts. They...