Legal Question in Discrimination Law in Alabama
employment discrimination
I had lunch on a sunday with a fellow employee, his x girfriend who works for the same company went to personell. Both him and I were told that we can not see each other anymore and it had to stop. They had me read a statement in the hand book, that read ''In other cases where a conflict or the potential for conflict arises because of the relationship between employees, even if there is no line of authority or reporting involved, the employees may be separated by reassignemnt or terminated from employment. Employees in a close personal relationship should refrain from public workplace displays of affection or excessive personal conversation.'' He and I had no conflict, she just got mad. Can they legally dictate who I can and cannot see?
If I choose to continue to see him outside the workplace and someone sees us, can they fire me? thank you
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: employment discrimination
In Alabama you do not have a right to a job. Your employer can fire you for any reason (as long as it is not a violation of state or federal law). This basically means they could come to you on a Monday and say "you're fired" just because they want to.
Your employer can fire both you and your "date" even though your conduct is not "on the job", but they must fire both of you, not just one of you.
Re: employment discrimination
No dating policies can be a violation of the law against discrimination based on sex. Your on the job conduct can certainly raise an issue with your employer and you can be terminated for it, but a few years ago, Wal-Mart's no dating policy was thrown out by a court as discrimination.
That doesn't mean that you will not be terminated, but they cannot terminate you for dating someone as long as it doesn't create a conflict of interest or otherwise affect your work performance. Now, if he is your supervisor, it might be creating a real conflict of interest.
Sterling L. DeRamus
Re: employment discrimination
You need to ask yourself what is more important, your friendship with this guy or your job. Once you get that straight, then you can decide whether what they're asking you to do is appropriate. This is a no-brainer it seems to me. Since your job could certainly fire you for no reason or any reason (so long as they don't discriminate improperly), you really need to ask yourself why you would push it.
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