As Valentine's Day approaches each year, the subject of workplace romance inevitably resurfaces. While employee romantic relationships are widely accepted, they are fraught with legal risks for employers. Chief among these risks are claims of sexual harassment.

Statistics released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) show that sexual harassment continues to be a significant problem in the workplace. The EEOC reports that in 2009 they received 12,696 sexual harassment complaints and recovered damages totaling over $51.5 million for aggrieved employees. This amount only includes cases that were settled with the EEOC and does not reflect monetary benefits obtained through litigation.

Failure to proactively address sexual harassment in the workplace can result not only in costly litigation for an employer, but also in:

In addition, besides sexual harassment claims, workplace romance gone awry can lead to retaliation claims and in worst-case scenarios, workplace violence. Other legal risks related to employee romantic relationships include sexual favoritism claims made by third-parties and, under some circumstances, by participants. Even happy workplace romances can lead to disruption in the workplace, conflicts of interest and other ethics problems.

Employers can substantially limit sexual harassment liability and other risks associated with workplace romance by taking several precautions. These include:

Practical Law Toolkits offer a collection of resources on specific areas of legal risk and compliance. The Sexual Harassment Toolkit provides several continuously maintained resources designed to assist an employer in minimizing the risk of workplace sexual harassment and defending against related claims.

The following Sexual Harassment Toolkit resources appear in the February 2011 issue of Practical Law The Journal: