Humans And Their...Er, Resources

There was much excitement at work Wednesday afternoon. Seems the rumors about the boss and one of his employees is true. He was in California. She went to California, too. The way we knew? Someone from the airline left a message on our work voice mail confirming her tickets.

Within a matter of half an hour, just about everyone at work knew about it. (It's a small company--only about 30 or so people in the office at one time.) One person in particular--let's just call him our resident drama queen--made it a point to tell me, since I'm the Human Resources person. While he told me to put me in the middle of it, there is a concern here. It's called sexual harassment. If the romance goes sour, the employee could allege that the boss coerced her into the relationship. Or if she's perceived as getting disparate treatment (better opportunities/benefits, etc.), someone else who isn't getting those opportunities could file a sexual harassment charge.

Oy. So yesterday morning I talked to the boss (who's also my boss) and told him people knew. (I thought he and the employee should at least know they could quit trying to cover it up. That just makes it worse.) I also reminded him of the risk he's putting the company in. And I told him I was very uncomfortable having to talk to him about the whole thing, which he seemed to appreciate. He acknowledged he's held to a higher standard than others, but went on to say he's only human.

And, apparently, he's putting his human, er, resources to good use.


"Give a man a free hand and he'll run it all over you." ~Mae West