Employer warning: Valentine cards lead to employment tribunals

The TUC put out a well-publicised announcement on Friday which warned employers not be too heavy handed when dealing with office romances.

In particular, the TUC advised against US-style 'love contracts'.

The TUC has also put together a guide to help employees find out where they stand on relationships at work, what to do when they happen, what to do when they break up and what to do if you want to say no. Office romantics can read the full guide at:

www.worksmart.org.uk/valentine

We all know that there are those out there that will take any opportunity to take the employer to court for perceived financial reward, whether they really believe that the employer is accountable or not - it's just a question of whether they can either convince a court or, more likely, frighten the employer into not being willing to take that risk.

What that means is that employers try to identify these people prior to employment and not employ them - or that already illegal discrimination too?

No-one belives that employers or anyone else should be able to dodge liability for something that they, as a reasonable person, could or should have avoided, but the law seems to be losing the ability to apply the reasonable rule and not have it overturned on appeal.

I agree with Martin Brewer's comments with regard to the removal of a significant amount of discrimination. I would add as someone who has worked fulltime in safety and risk management for 20 years that there are significant positive aspects of Health & Safety legislation in particular. I would refer readers to the HSE web site where there are an increasing number of examples of these financial benefits. The employers who fear legislation are those who still have little regard for the safety and health of the employees and others. A good benchmark for your own company standards is to ask the question, would you be happy if the person you love most in the world was working for an organisation applying similar if not identical standards? if not what right do you have to apply a lower standard to someone elses loved one. Technological and industrial progress should not be at the expense of employees health or safety. Without moral standards which progress at a similar rate, and where we as a society agree not to deliberately harm one another either physically or mentally then progress will inevitably fail.

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Martin makes some valid points about discrimination, and I'm sure we would all support them. I'm not sure any of us who commented stated otherwise.

Surely the point is that if we carry on at this rate then we will be too scared to initiate necessary business changes for fear of upsetting someone. That stops growth?

The valentine card issue is maybe over the top, but it demonstrates that some people seem hell-bent in making everything a political issue. Why?

Martin,

I'm sure none of the persons above would disagree that there have been many changes for the better in terms of equality, discrimination etc, both in and out of the workplace.

But these changes are there to protect the rights of those who have genuinely been unfairly treated for whatever reason, and not those who seek to make a quick buck by filing fraudulent or multiple claims, effectively using new legislation to apportion blame where there was none.

It's also sad but true that there will always be someone who takes offence at just about anything. These ridiculous claims can and do succeed, attracting the inevitable media coverage.

Don't slip on the soap when you throw out the Bath water Martin.........

Whilst I have some sympathy with the exasperation expressed in these comments we do need some perspective. Less than 30 years ago it was lawful to refuse to employ someone simply because of their colour. 30 years ago it was lawful to refuse to employ someone just because they were female. Less than 10 years ago it was lawful to refuse to employ someone who is classified as disabled and until very recently it was perfectly lawful to refuse to employ someone just because of their sexuality. UK anti discrimination legislation is designed to produce a level playing field so that people are judged on merit rather than on characteristics they were born with. Would John, Philip or Dean have a different perspective if they felt they felt they ahd been refused a job, or a promotion just because they are men?

I agree entirely that it is ridiculous to cry 'foul' just because a Valentines card is sent and in reality that is unlikely to happen. The card itself could not in my view be offensive. It might however contain something offensive and we do need to be aware that offence can be caused in these circumstances. It's really no different to an offensive remark.

We do need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater here. In general Employment Tribunals are very sensible and don't allow extreme cases to succeed. But if we don't 'push the envelope' the law won't develop. If the political agenda hadn't been pushed in the 1970s it would still be lawful to exclude women from work or promotion etc. just because they are women. Surely we don't want to go back to those days.

Given the Watchdog TV programme re reported on today (re the DDA) it is sad, but obvious, that we do live in a 'claims culture'.

David

I agree with John, If we followed all the legislation, regulation, guidance & safe working practices, it would take hours to plan a job that can be done in 5 minutes.

In a business world ever more obsessed with productivity & efficiency, is it any wonder we as a Nation can't compete with others who conveniently ignore such legislation or are not bound by so much red tape.

As for the claims culture, there has been a fundamental shift in attitude, mainly brought about in my opinion by the "Claims R us " brigade. It now seems that someone is to blame for anything that may happen to us....except ourselves.

I agree John.

I'm all for stamping out unfair and disciminatory practices in the workplace, but this article made me wonder how we had arrived at such a police state, and in such a short space of time?

I seem to remember only a few years ago enjoying work, now it feels like a chore every day.

How depressing!

Not long now folks before companies grind to a complete stop due to no-one being able able to do anything because of the possibility of legal repercussions. (We really aren't far away from this when all implications of Health & Safety and Employment law are considered!)

"Firms will have to protect themselves from being liable for a homophobic outburst" as a result of a Valentine card being sent. Aaargh! More non-productive company time devoted to something that really ought not to happen.

Two things:

Valentine's cards are traditionally sent anonymously - so who will have upset whom?!

If someone is upset and knows the source of the card why can they simply not be adult about it and tell the sender to "get on their bike" - or similar.

Real harassment is something that should be firmly "stamped upon" and is one thing, but the sending of Valentines cards really ought not to be any business of the company - it is meant to be a bit of fun!

Why can we not all grow up and fight our own battles rather than rely on our employers to do it for us? I despair.