DSHS putting foot down on some office romances

Office romances are the most common path to marriage, but one state agency wants none of the intrigue.

At the risk of being considered the love police, the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) is preparing to ban intraoffice romances between supervisors and employees.

Administrators at the state's largest department, grappling with the expensive consequences of a sexual-harassment scandal at Western State Hospital, decided a ban's troublesome enforcement was worth it.

"We care because it is bad for morale, and it exposes us to liability," said DSHS Secretary Dennis Braddock. "We're not trying to prohibit love."

Such bans were a hot workplace topic amid the Monica Lewinsky-President Clinton scandal and research by a human-resource trade group that found up to 80 percent of American workers have dated a co-worker.

No other large state agency in Washington has such a ban.

Nor do several of the area's largest private employers. Microsoft's Bill Gates met his wife on the job. His company simply encourages managers to use the "best judgment" in office romances, said a company spokeswoman.

But in a policy that will be sent to all 18,000 DSHS employees next month, employees dating within their "chain of command" must report "consensual sexual relationships" or face discipline, said the agency's human-resources director, Sherer Murtiashaw.

If the flame burns bright enough, a manager or employee will be reassigned pronto, she said. Dating peers or nonsupervising managers is still permitted.

The agency doesn't want to meddle too deeply in private matters, Murtiashaw said, but dating the boss can lead to the perception of favoritism. And if the relationship sours, the perception of retaliation — and lawsuits — can bloom just as fast.

In 2001, DSHS paid a secretary in Spokane $120,000 to settle her claim of sexual harassment by the DSHS chief human-resources officer in Eastern Washington. He claimed a consensual affair, but she disagreed. DSHS sided with her and fired him.

Enforcement may be tricky — especially if two employees aren't talking.

"It's clear what an employer is trying to do, but how do you enforce it?" said Lea Vaugh, a University of Washington employment-law professor. "Do you take rumors? Do you have to actually see them? Do you rely on spies? That runs into a whole other morale problem."

Tim Welch, a spokesman for the largest DSHS union, agreed.

There's already disciplinary procedures to deal with harassment, and DSHS will inevitably get requests for exemptions to the policy, he said.

"It will cause the state to spend a lot of time on the affair of the heart," said Welch. "DSHS has better things to do with its time."

Braddock said he didn't know how many soon-to-be-illicit romances there might be within his department, but he expects a backlash. "I can see it now, 'free love' picketing outside my office."

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jonathanmartin@seattletimes.com