Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois

Can an employer prohibit a manager from socializing with an employee outside of the workplace or any non-work related activity?

A friend of mine is a manager at a restaurant.At birthday party for him at a public bar several of his employees attended. His superiors found out about it via some pictures on facebook (all innocent pictures with friends.Nothing offensive).They threatened to fire him if he was caught doing it again.He was instructed that if he was at any public place and any of his employees showed up he needed to leave the premises. He could not socialize with them outside of the work place.There is nothing in the company manual that states this rule.There is a rule regarding management having romantic, intimate or sexual relationships with a direct employee and even prohibiting employees working in the same restaurant from dating. Is any of this legal? What are his recourses?He has 16yrs with them.


Asked on 6/25/10, 11:38 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Betty Tsamis Tsamis Law Firm PC

This sounds to me to be an unreasonable policy of some sort that violates your friend's privacy (having to leave a public place if he runs into his employees). Many companies have policies prohibiting peronsal and romantci relationships between managers and employees. Many of these policies are viewed as lawful.

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Answered on 6/25/10, 3:23 pm


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