Office Affairs Can Be Detrimental to Your Career

  

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

By Ruth Houston

“Proceed with caution if you’re tempted to have an office affair” says infidelity expert Ruth Houston, who was recently quoted in a Christian Science Monitor article on office affairs and workplace romance.

“Proceed with caution if you’re contemplating having an office affair or workplace romance” says infidelity expert Ruth Houston, who was recently quoted in a Christian Science Monitor article on office romance. 

Experts say that over 70% of single employees will become romantically involved with someone on the job at some point in their career. Research shows that people are more likely to date a coworker than anyone else. Today’s workplace has becomes the new “singles bar.” The workplace has also become the #1 place for married men and women to meet affair partners and conduct extramarital affairs.  

 “As tempting as it may be to date someone from work, the risks far outweigh the rewards” says Ruth Houston, infidelity expert and author of Is He Cheating on You?”  Houston was recently quoted in an article in the business section of the Christian Science Monitor entitled To Date, or Not to Date by Randy Dotinga.  Further expanding on her comments in that article, Houston discusses some of the negative aspects of office affairs.
Legal Complications

An office affair can cause you legal problems as well as public embarrassment” points out Houston.  Especially if your workplace lover becomes involved in a corporate scandal. “You could be named as an accomplice, or hauled into court as a government witness,” says Houston, citing the examples below:

• U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones, the judge in the trial of ex-WorldCom chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers,  ruled that star witness Scott Sullivan can be questioned about his marital infidelity because it speaks to his character for truthfulness.
  
• Book publisher Judith Regan may be forced to testify about her affair with Bernard Kerik who withdrew his name from Homeland Security nominee in the midst of  numerous allegations of personal and professional improprieties.
  
• Testimony from three former mistresses helped put Nathan Chapman away for  7 ½ years for defrauding Maryland's state pension fund system and looting his three publicly traded companies.
  These are only three of the most recent examples of how an romance may become public knowledge, much to the embarrassment of those involved. 

In addition, males in supervisory positions who have office affairs with female subordinate run the risk of becoming the subject of a sexual-harassment suit if the woman later claims to have been coerced or pressured into the relationship for fear of her job.  For that reason many companies now forbid romance between bosses and subordinates.  Others companies require persons involved to sign  consensual relationship agreements – also known as “love contracts”  - which state that the relationship is voluntary.