'Love Contract' Can Legalize Office Romance
An apparent proliferation of workplace affairs is sending a steady stream of new business into the offices of employment lawyers with a specialized practice expertise: the so-called love contract.
Eager to avoid possible litigation and embarrassing headlines should the romance sour, the parties concerned and office administrators are calling on legal counsel to draft an appropriate “consensual social relationship agreement” to protect potential defendants, reports the New York Law Journal in an article reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
If the right language is used, otherwise illicit office flings and even old-fashioned romances among co-workers can be immunized in advance from potential litigation, according to John Bauer of Littler Mendelson, one of the gurus to whom would-be love contract parties can turn. His 700-lawyer San Francisco-based firm pioneered the concept, which has been around for a decade or so but has recently gotten more popular.
Among other provisions, the agreements commonly call for parties to confirm they weren’t coerced due to subordinate status but “independently and collectively, desire to undertake and pursue a mutually consensual social and/or amorous relationship,” the legal publication recounts.
Says Bauer: “This is not a huge part of our practice. But at any one time we have an attorney or two drafting one of these love contracts.”
