Court Allows Workplace Romance, Employers Ordered Not To Interfere

The court has ruled that workplace romance should be allowed to happen naturally. The court said employers shouldn’t interfere with personal relationships between staff as long as work performance isn’t affected....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

A labor court ruled that romantic relationships that arise at work ought to have the freedom to develop at their own pace.

Justice James Rika of the Supreme Court stated that we should not allow business rules to stifle love.

According to him, employers should not investigate employees’ personal lives.

“Nothing is more degrading than for a third party, an employer, to intermeddle in a love relationship between two consenting adult employees,” he said to reporters.

He arrived at these conclusions in the context of a case in which a former worker disputed his firing on the grounds that he had allegedly engaged in a sexual connection with a subordinate worker.

He referred to his dismissal as being unjust.

During that time period, MN worked as the regional operations manager for a company. He remained in this role until December 2020, when the company terminated his contract in a manner that was both unfair and unconstitutional.

He had a previous income of 270,400/-. This was his status until the 22nd of December 2020.

According to what he said in front of the judge, his employer had sent him a letter on November 13, 2020, asking him to provide an explanation as to why disciplinary action should not be taken against him.

They allegedly transferred a junior employee named DJ to a new assignment without his permission. He allegedly encouraged the move.

They also accused him of making sexual attempts towards her and of borrowing and lending money to her. They accused him of all of these actions.

DJ and MN had a sexual relationship, as MN revealed himself.

DJ did not dispute it either, but she lost her job after falsely accusing MN of causing her pregnancy and refusing to pay child support.

The results of a DNA test revealed that DJ had not fathered MN’s child.

In addition, MN refuted the claim that he was in a position to influence her transfer, and the court agreed with him that the claim lacked evidence.

However, the court ruled that this violates the lover’s right to privacy, even though clause 14 of the company’s sexual harassment policy explicitly prohibits sexual connections.

He was convinced that love could flourish in the most unlikely places and that workplace romantic relationship bans are unjustified.

“In progressive jurisdiction, the courts have intervened in favour of protecting workplace romance, so long as it does not affect work performance,” according to the judicial officer.

He said that employers should exercise caution when it comes to meddling in a romantic relationship that is taking place in the workplace, because doing so may constitute a breach of their workers’ private rights.

Concerning MN, the court stated that the corporation did not provide any sufficient reasons to warrant the termination of his employment.

He compensated him with 3.2 million Kenyan shillings for the unjust termination of his employment.

“In the Court’s view, there was evidence of a sexual relationship between the two, but no convincing evidence that the sexual relationship morphed into sexual harassment,” according to the judge.

In conclusion, Rika said that companies should allow love to flourish in the workplace since employee romance has the potential to even boost the employer’s association…CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES>>>